-ism

Look up -ism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

-ism is a suffix in many English words, originally derived from Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismos), reaching English through Latin, via French.^[1] It is often used in philosophy to define specific ideologies, and, as such, at times it is used as a noun when referring to a broad range of ideologies in a general sense.^[2] The suffix 'ism' qua ism is neutral and therefore bears no connotations associated with any of the many ideologies it has been appended to; such determinations can only be informed by public opinion regarding specific ideologies.

For examples of the use of -ism as a suffix see the following:

• List of philosophies
• Glossary of philosophy
• List of political ideologies
• List of art movements

References

Further reading

• Today's Isms: Socialism, Capitalism, Fascism, Communism, Libertarianism by Alan Ebenstein, William Ebenstein and Edwin Fogelman (11th ed, Pearson, 1999, ISBN 978-0130257147)
• Isms and Ologies: 453 Difficult Doctrines You've Always Pretended to Understand by Arthur Goldwag (Quercus, 2007, ISBN 978-1847241764) ranges from Abolitionism to Zoroastrianism.
• Isms: Understanding Art by Stephen Little (A & C Black, 2004, ISBN 978-0713670110), one of a series of similar titles including ... Architecture, ... Modern Art, ... Fashion and ... Religions.
• The Ism Book: A Field Guide to Philosophy by Peter Saint-Andre.