| mysticism | (noun) a religion based on mystical communion with an ultimate reality | Synonyms: religious mysticism |
|---|
| (noun) obscure or irrational thought | - |
| nanism | (noun) a genetic abnormality resulting in short stature | Synonyms: dwarfism |
|---|
| narcism | (noun) an exceptional interest in and admiration for yourself | Synonyms: narcissism, self-love |
|---|
| narcissism | (noun) an exceptional interest in and admiration for yourself | Synonyms: narcism, self-love |
|---|
| narcoterrorism | (noun) the financing of terrorist activities by participation in the drug trade | - |
|---|
| nationalism | (noun) love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it | Synonyms: patriotism |
|---|
| (noun) the doctrine that your national culture and interests are superior to any other | - |
| (noun) the doctrine that nations should act independently (rather than collectively) to attain their goals | - |
| (noun) the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination | - |
| nativism | (noun) (philosophy) the philosophical theory that some ideas are innate | - |
|---|
| (noun) the policy of perpetuating native cultures (in opposition to acculturation) | - |
| naturalism | (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations | - |
|---|
| (noun) an artistic movement in 19th century France; artists and writers strove for detailed realistic and factual description | Synonyms: realism |
| naturism | (noun) going without clothes as a social practice | Synonyms: nudism |
|---|
| necrophilism | (noun) an irresistible sexual attraction to dead bodies | Synonyms: necromania, necrophilia |
|---|
| negativism | (noun) characterized by habitual skepticism and a disagreeable tendency to deny or oppose or resist suggestions or commands | Synonyms: negativeness, negativity |
|---|
| neobehaviorism | (noun) a school of psychology based on the general principles of behaviorism but broader and more flexible in concept. It stresses experimental research and laboratory analyses in the study of overt behavior and in various subjective phenomena that cannot be directly observed and measured, such as fantasies, love, stress, empathy, trust, and personality. | - |
|---|
| neoclassicism | (noun) revival of a classical style (in art or literature or architecture or music) but from a new perspective or with a new motivation | - |
|---|
| neocolonialism | (noun) control by a powerful country of its former colonies (or other less developed countries) by economic pressures | - |
|---|
| neoconservatism | (noun) an approach to politics or theology that represents a return to a traditional point of view (in contrast to more liberal or radical schools of thought of the 1960s) | - |
|---|
| neocriticism | (noun) a form of neo-Kantianism developed principally by C. B. Renouvier and his followers rejecting the noumena of Kant and restricting knowledge to phenomena as constituted by a priori categories. | - |
|---|
| neoevolutionism | (noun) school of anthropology concerned with long-term culture change and with the similar patterns of development that may be seen in unrelated, widely separated cultures. | Synonyms: neo-evolutionism |
|---|
| neoexpressionism | (noun) an art movement based on expressionism; developed in 1980s in Europe and United States; crudely drawn garish paintings | - |
|---|
| neoliberalism | (noun) a political orientation originating in the 1960s; blends liberal political views with an emphasis on economic growth | - |
|---|
| neologism | (noun) the act of inventing a word or phrase | Synonyms: coinage, neology |
|---|
| (noun) a newly invented word or phrase | Synonyms: coinage, neology |
| neoromanticism | (noun) an art movement based on a revival of Romanticism in art and literature | - |
|---|
| nepotism | (noun) favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs) | - |
|---|
| nervism | (noun) the philosophical position adopted by Pavlov that all behavioral and physiological processes are regulated by the nervous system. | - |
|---|
| neuroticism | (noun) a mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction | Synonyms: neurosis, psychoneurosis |
|---|
| neurotropism | (noun) an affinity for neural tissues | - |
|---|
| neutralism | (noun) a policy of neutrality or nonalignment in international affairs | - |
|---|
| nihilism | (noun) a revolutionary doctrine that advocates destruction of the social system for its own sake | - |
|---|
| (noun) complete denial of all established authority and institutions | - |
| (noun) the delusion that things (or everything, including the self) do not exist; a sense that everything is unreal | Synonyms: nihilistic delusion |
| noctambulism | (noun) walking by a person who is asleep | Synonyms: noctambulation, sleepwalking, somnambulation, somnambulism |
|---|
| nomadism | (noun) The way of life of people who, having no fixed home, move around seasonally in search of food, water and grazing etc. | - |
|---|
| nominalism | (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that the various objects labeled by the same term have nothing in common but their name | - |
|---|
| nonconformism | (noun) the practice of nonconformity | - |
|---|
| (noun) a lack of orthodoxy in thoughts or beliefs | Synonyms: nonconformance, nonconformity |
| nudism | (noun) going without clothes as a social practice | Synonyms: naturism |
|---|
| obiism | (noun) belief in a kind of sorcery that originated in Africa and is practiced in the West Indies | - |
|---|
| obscurantism | (noun) a deliberate act intended to make something obscure | - |
|---|
| (noun) a policy of opposition to enlightenment or the spread of knowledge | - |
| obstructionism | (noun) deliberate interference | - |
|---|
| occidentalism | (noun) the quality or customs or mannerisms characteristic of Western civilizations | - |
|---|
| occultism | (noun) a belief in supernatural powers and the possibility of bringing them under human control | - |
|---|
| (noun) the study of the supernatural | - |
| oculism | (noun) the craft of an oculist | - |
|---|
| oecumenism | (noun) a movement promoting union between religions (especially between Christian churches) | Synonyms: ecumenism |
|---|
| onanism | (noun) manual stimulation of the genital organs (of yourself or another) for sexual pleasure | Synonyms: masturbation |
|---|
| (noun) a method of birth control in which coitus is initiated but the penis is deliberately withdrawn before ejaculation | Synonyms: coitus interruptus, pulling out, withdrawal, withdrawal method |
| oneirism | (noun) absentminded dreaming while awake | Synonyms: air castle, castle in Spain, castle in the air, daydream, daydreaming, reverie, revery |
|---|
| operationalism | (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that the meaning of a proposition consists of the operations involved in proving or applying it | - |
|---|
| ophidism | (noun) poisoning by snake venom | - |
|---|
| opportunism | (noun) taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the consequences for others | Synonyms: expedience, self-interest, self-seeking |
|---|
| optimism | (noun) a general disposition to expect the best in all things | - |
|---|
| (noun) the optimistic feeling that all is going to turn out well | - |
| organicism | (noun) theory that the total organization of an organism rather than the functioning of individual organs is the determinant of life processes | - |
|---|
| organism | (noun) a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently | Synonyms: being |
|---|
| (noun) a system considered analogous in structure or function to a living body | - |
| orientalism | (noun) the quality or customs or mannerisms characteristic of Asian civilizations | - |
|---|
| originalism | (noun) the belief that the United States Constitution should be interpreted in the way the authors originally intended it | - |
|---|
| ornamentalism | (noun) the practice of ornamental display | - |
|---|
| ostracism | (noun) the act of excluding someone from society by general consent | - |
|---|
| (noun) the state of being banished or ostracized (excluded from society by general consent) | Synonyms: banishment, Coventry |
| pacificism | (noun) the doctrine that all violence is unjustifiable | Synonyms: pacifism, passivism |
|---|
| (noun) the belief that all international disputes can be settled by arbitration | Synonyms: pacifism |
| pacifism | (noun) the doctrine that all violence is unjustifiable | Synonyms: pacificism, passivism |
|---|
| (noun) the belief that all international disputes can be settled by arbitration | Synonyms: pacificism |
| paganism | (noun) any of various religions other than Christianity or Judaism or Islamism | Synonyms: heathenism, pagan religion |
|---|
| pandeism | (noun) the belief that God created the universe and its phenomena by becoming the universe, thereafter the sole manifestation of God | - |
|---|
| panentheism | (noun) the belief that God is in part of the universe and its phenomena and also transcends the universe and intervenes in its operations | - |
|---|
| pantheism | (noun) the doctrine or belief that God is the universe and its phenomena (taken or conceived of as a whole) or the doctrine that regards the universe as a manifestation of God | - |
|---|
| (noun) (rare) worship that admits or tolerates all gods | - |
| papism | (noun) offensive terms for the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church | Synonyms: popery |
|---|
| (noun) the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church based in Rome | Synonyms: Roman Catholicism, Romanism |
| parallelism | (noun) similarity by virtue of corresponding | Synonyms: correspondence |
|---|
| paralogism | (noun) an unintentionally invalid argument | - |
|---|
| paramagnetism | (noun) materials like aluminum or platinum become magnetized in a magnetic field but it disappears when the field is removed | - |
|---|
| parasitism | (noun) the relation between two different kinds of organisms in which one receives benefits from the other by causing damage to it (usually not fatal damage) | - |
|---|
| parochialism | (noun) a limitation of views or interests like that defined by a local parish | - |
|---|
| particularism | (noun) a focus on something particular | - |
|---|
| passivism | (noun) the doctrine that all violence is unjustifiable | Synonyms: pacificism, pacifism |
|---|
| paternalism | (noun) the attitude (of a person or a government) that subordinates should be controlled in a fatherly way for their own good | - |
|---|
| patriotism | (noun) love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it | Synonyms: nationalism |
|---|
| pauperism | (noun) a state of extreme poverty or destitution | Synonyms: indigence, need, pauperization, penury |
|---|
| pentecostalism | (noun) the principles and practices of Pentecostal religious groups; characterized by religious excitement and talking in tongues | - |
|---|
| perfectionism | (noun) a disposition to feel that anything less than perfect is unacceptable | - |
|---|
| peripateticism | (noun) (philosophy) the philosophy of Aristotle that deals with logic and metaphysics and ethics and poetics and politics and natural science | Synonyms: Aristotelianism |
|---|
| permissivism | (noun) lenience toward or indulgence of a wide variety of social behavior. | - |
|---|
| pessimism | (noun) a general disposition to look on the dark side and to expect the worst in all things | - |
|---|
| (noun) the feeling that things will turn out badly | - |
| philhellenism | (noun) admiration for Greece and the Greeks and Greek customs | - |
|---|
| philistinism | (noun) a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters | Synonyms: materialism |
|---|
| photojournalism | (noun) journalism that presents a story primarily through the use of pictures | - |
|---|
| phototropism | (noun) an orienting response to light | - |
|---|
| physicalism | (noun) (philosophy) the philosophical theory that matter is the only reality | Synonyms: materialism |
|---|
| pianism | (noun) performance by or technique of a pianist | - |
|---|
| pietism | (noun) exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal | Synonyms: religionism, religiosity, religiousism |
|---|
| plagiarism | (noun) the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own | Synonyms: piracy, plagiarisation, plagiarization |
|---|
| (noun) a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work | - |
| plebeianism | (noun) The quality or state of being of or pertaining to the common people; of being vulgar, common. | - |
|---|
| pleochroism | (noun) the phenomenon of different colors appearing when certain crystals are viewed from different directions | - |
|---|
| pleomorphism | (noun) (biology) the appearance of two or more distinctly different forms in the life cycle of some organisms | - |
|---|
| (noun) (chemistry) the existence of different kinds of crystal of the same chemical compound | Synonyms: polymorphism |
| plumbism | (noun) toxic condition produced by the absorption of excessive lead into the system | Synonyms: lead poisoning, saturnism |
|---|
| pluralism | (noun) the practice of one person holding more than one benefice at a time | - |
|---|
| (noun) the doctrine that reality consists of several basic substances or elements | - |
| (noun) a social organization in which diversity of racial or religious or ethnic or cultural groups is tolerated | - |
| poeticism | (noun) a poetic phrase, utterance, etc. | - |
|---|
| pointillism | (noun) a genre of painting characterized by the application of paint in dots and small strokes; developed by Georges Seurat and his followers in late 19th century France | - |
|---|
| (noun) a school of painters who used a technique of painting with tiny dots of pure colors that would blend in the viewer's eye; developed by Georges Seurat and his followers late in 19th century France | - |
| pollotarianism | (noun) the practice of following a diet that includes chicken or other poultry, but not meat from mammals. | - |
|---|
| polymorphism | (noun) (biology) the existence of two or more forms of individuals within the same animal species (independent of sex differences) | - |
|---|
| (noun) (chemistry) the existence of different kinds of crystal of the same chemical compound | Synonyms: pleomorphism |
| (noun) (genetics) the genetic variation within a population that natural selection can operate on | - |
| polytheism | (noun) belief in multiple Gods | - |
|---|
| polytonalism | (noun) music that uses two or more different keys at the same time | Synonyms: polytonality |
|---|
| popularism | (noun) music adapted to the understanding and taste of the majority | - |
|---|
| populism | (noun) the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite | - |
|---|
| positivism | (noun) a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness | Synonyms: positiveness, positivity |
|---|
| (noun) the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation) | Synonyms: logical positivism |
| postmodernism | (noun) genre of art and literature and especially architecture in reaction against principles and practices of established modernism | - |
|---|
| pragmatism | (noun) the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth | Synonyms: realism |
|---|
| (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that practical consequences are the criteria of knowledge and meaning and value | - |
| predestinarianism | (noun) the belief or doctrine of predestinarians | - |
|---|
| prescriptivism | (noun) (linguistics) a doctrine supporting or promoting prescriptive linguistics | - |
|---|
| (noun) (ethics) a doctrine holding that moral statements prescribe appropriate attitudes and behavior | - |
| presentism | (noun) the doctrine that the Scripture prophecies of the Apocalypse (as in the Book of Revelations) are presently in the course of being fulfilled | - |
|---|