| peripateticism | (noun) (philosophy) the philosophy of Aristotle that deals with logic and metaphysics and ethics and poetics and politics and natural science | Synonyms: Aristotelianism |
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| permissivism | (noun) lenience toward or indulgence of a wide variety of social behavior. | - |
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| pessimism | (noun) a general disposition to look on the dark side and to expect the worst in all things | - |
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| (noun) the feeling that things will turn out badly | - |
| phantasm | (noun) something existing in perception only | Synonyms: apparition, fantasm, phantasma, phantom, shadow |
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| (noun) a ghostly appearing figure | Synonyms: apparition, fantasm, phantasma, phantom, specter, spectre |
| philhellenism | (noun) admiration for Greece and the Greeks and Greek customs | - |
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| philistinism | (noun) a desire for wealth and material possessions with little interest in ethical or spiritual matters | Synonyms: materialism |
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| photojournalism | (noun) journalism that presents a story primarily through the use of pictures | - |
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| phototropism | (noun) an orienting response to light | - |
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| physicalism | (noun) (philosophy) the philosophical theory that matter is the only reality | Synonyms: materialism |
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| pianism | (noun) performance by or technique of a pianist | - |
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| pietism | (noun) exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal | Synonyms: religionism, religiosity, religiousism |
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| piroplasm | (noun) minute parasite of red blood cells of mammals transmitted by a tick and causing diseases of domestic animals | - |
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| plagiarism | (noun) the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own | Synonyms: piracy, plagiarisation, plagiarization |
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| (noun) a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work | - |
| plasm | (noun) the protoplasm of the germ cells that contains chromosomes and genes | Synonyms: germ plasm |
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| (noun) the colorless watery fluid of the blood and lymph that contains no cells, but in which the blood cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes) are suspended | Synonyms: blood plasma, plasma |
| plebeianism | (noun) The quality or state of being of or pertaining to the common people; of being vulgar, common. | - |
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| pleochroism | (noun) the phenomenon of different colors appearing when certain crystals are viewed from different directions | - |
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| pleomorphism | (noun) (biology) the appearance of two or more distinctly different forms in the life cycle of some organisms | - |
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| (noun) (chemistry) the existence of different kinds of crystal of the same chemical compound | Synonyms: polymorphism |
| pleonasm | (noun) using more words than necessary | - |
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| plumbism | (noun) toxic condition produced by the absorption of excessive lead into the system | Synonyms: lead poisoning, saturnism |
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| pluralism | (noun) the practice of one person holding more than one benefice at a time | - |
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| (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. | - |
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| 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 | - |
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| (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. | - |
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| polymorphism | (noun) (biology) the existence of two or more forms of individuals within the same animal species (independent of sex differences) | - |
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| (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 | - |
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| polytonalism | (noun) music that uses two or more different keys at the same time | Synonyms: polytonality |
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| popularism | (noun) music adapted to the understanding and taste of the majority | - |
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| populism | (noun) the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite | - |
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| positivism | (noun) a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness | Synonyms: positiveness, positivity |
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| (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 | - |
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| pragmatism | (noun) the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth | Synonyms: realism |
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| (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that practical consequences are the criteria of knowledge and meaning and value | - |
| predestinarianism | (noun) the belief or doctrine of predestinarians | - |
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| prescriptivism | (noun) (linguistics) a doctrine supporting or promoting prescriptive linguistics | - |
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| (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 | - |
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| priapism | (noun) condition in which the penis is continually erect; usually painful and seldom with sexual arousal | - |
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| primitivism | (noun) a genre characteristic of (or imitative of) primitive artists or children | - |
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| (noun) a wild or unrefined state | Synonyms: crudeness, crudity, primitiveness, rudeness |
| prism | (noun) optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image | Synonyms: optical prism |
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| (noun) a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms | - |
| probabilism | (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that (since certainty is unattainable) probability is a sufficient basis for belief and action | - |
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| (noun) a Roman Catholic system of casuistry that when expert opinions differ an actor can follow any solidly probable opinion that he wishes even though some different opinion might be more probable | - |
| professionalism | (noun) the expertness characteristic of a professional person | - |
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| prognathism | (noun) the condition of being prognathous; the condition of having a projecting jaw | - |
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| progressivism | (noun) the political orientation of those who favor progress toward better conditions in government and society | - |
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| proletarianism | (noun) The condition or political position of a member of the working class. | - |
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| proselytism | (noun) the state of being a proselyte; spiritual rebirth resulting from the zeal of crusading advocacy of the gospel | - |
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| (noun) the practice of proselytizing | - |
| protagonism | (noun) active support of an idea or cause etc.; especially the act of pleading or arguing for something | Synonyms: advocacy |
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| protectionism | (noun) the policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect home industries from overseas competition | - |
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| protoplasm | (noun) the substance of a living cell (including cytoplasm and nucleus) | Synonyms: living substance |
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| provincialism | (noun) a partiality for some particular place | Synonyms: localism, sectionalism |
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| (noun) a lack of sophistication | - |
| pseudohermaphroditism | (noun) congenital condition in which a person has external genitalia of one sex and internal sex organs of the other sex | - |
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| ptyalism | (noun) excessive flow of saliva | - |
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| pugilism | (noun) fighting with the fists | Synonyms: boxing, fisticuffs |
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| purism | (noun) scrupulous or exaggerated insistence on purity or correctness (especially in language) | - |
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| quietism | (noun) a form of religious mysticism requiring withdrawal from all human effort and passive contemplation of God | - |
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| quislingism | (noun) act of cooperating traitorously with an enemy that is occupying your country | Synonyms: collaboration, collaborationism |
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| quixotism | (noun) quixotic (romantic and impractical) behavior | Synonyms: knight errantry |
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| racialism | (noun) discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race | Synonyms: racial discrimination, racism |
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| racism | (noun) discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race | Synonyms: racial discrimination, racialism |
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| (noun) the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races | - |
| radicalism | (noun) the political orientation of those who favor revolutionary change in government and society | - |
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| rationalism | (noun) the doctrine that reason is the right basis for regulating conduct | Synonyms: freethinking |
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| (noun) (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge is acquired by reason without resort to experience | - |
| (noun) the theological doctrine that human reason rather than divine revelation establishes religious truth | - |
| reactionism | (noun) the political orientation of reactionaries | - |
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| realism | (noun) the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring practicality and literal truth | Synonyms: pragmatism |
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| (noun) (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that physical objects continue to exist when not perceived | Synonyms: naive realism |
| (noun) (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names | Synonyms: Platonism |
| (noun) an artistic movement in 19th century France; artists and writers strove for detailed realistic and factual description | Synonyms: naturalism |
| (noun) the state of being actual or real | Synonyms: reality, realness |
| recidivism | (noun) habitual relapse into crime | - |
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| reductionism | (noun) a theory that all complex systems can be completely understood in terms of their components | - |
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| (noun) the analysis of complex things into simpler constituents | - |
| reductivism | (noun) an art movement in sculpture and painting that began in the 1950s and emphasized extreme simplification of form and color | Synonyms: minimal art, minimalism |
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| reformism | (noun) a doctrine of reform | - |
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| regionalism | (noun) loyalty to the interests of a particular region | - |
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| (noun) a feature (as a pronunciation or expression or custom) that is characteristic of a particular region | - |
| (noun) a foreign policy that defines the international interests of a country in terms of particular geographic areas | - |
| reincarnationism | (noun) a doctrine that on the death of the body the soul migrates to or is born again in another body | - |
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| relativism | (noun) (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that all criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved | - |
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| religionism | (noun) exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal | Synonyms: pietism, religiosity, religiousism |
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| (noun) exaggerated religious zealotry | - |
| religiousism | (noun) exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal | Synonyms: pietism, religionism, religiosity |
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| republicanism | (noun) the political orientation of those who hold that a republic is the best form of government | - |
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| revisionism | (noun) a moderate evolutionary form of Marxism | - |
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| (noun) any dangerous departure from the teachings of Marx | - |
| revivalism | (noun) an attempt to reawaken the evangelical faith | - |
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| revolutionism | (noun) a belief in the spread of revolutionary principles | - |
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| rheumatism | (noun) any painful disorder of the joints or muscles or connective tissues | - |
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| (noun) a chronic autoimmune disease with inflammation of the joints and marked deformities; something (possibly a virus) triggers an attack on the synovium by the immune system, which releases cytokines that stimulate an inflammatory reaction that can lead to the destruction of all components of the joint | Synonyms: atrophic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis |
| rightism | (noun) the ideology of the political right; belief in or support of the tenets of the political right | - |
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| ritualism | (noun) exaggerated emphasis on the importance of rites or ritualistic forms in worship | - |
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| (noun) the study of religious or magical rites and ceremonies | - |
| romanticism | (noun) impractical romantic ideals and attitudes | - |
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| (noun) an exciting and mysterious quality (as of a heroic time or adventure) | Synonyms: romance |
| rowdyism | (noun) rowdy behavior | Synonyms: disorderliness, roughness, rowdiness |
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| royalism | (noun) adherence or attachment to a monarchy or to the principle of monarchal government | - |
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| ruffianism | (noun) violent lawless behavior | - |
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| ruralism | (noun) a rural characteristic or trait | Synonyms: rurality |
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| (noun) a rural idiom or expression | Synonyms: rusticism |
| (noun) Advocacy of rural life instead of urbanism or city living. | - |
| rusticism | (noun) a rural idiom or expression | Synonyms: ruralism |
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| sabianism | (noun) the religion of a group mentioned in the Koran as entitled to Muslim religious toleration along with Jews and Christians and usually identified with the Mandaeans or the Elkesaites. | - |
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| sacerdotalism | (noun) a belief that priests can act as mediators between human beings and God | - |
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| sadism | (noun) sexual pleasure obtained by inflicting harm (physical or psychological) on others | - |
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| sadomasochism | (noun) sadism and masochism combined in one person | - |
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| sapphism | (noun) female homosexuality | Synonyms: lesbianism |
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| sarcasm | (noun) witty language used to convey insults or scorn | Synonyms: caustic remark, irony, satire |
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| sarcoplasm | (noun) the cytoplasm of a striated muscle fiber | - |
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| saturnism | (noun) toxic condition produced by the absorption of excessive lead into the system | Synonyms: lead poisoning, plumbism |
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| scepticism | (noun) the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge | Synonyms: agnosticism, skepticism |
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| (noun) doubt about the truth of something | Synonyms: disbelief, incredulity, mental rejection, skepticism |
| schism | (noun) division of a group into opposing factions | Synonyms: split |
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| (noun) the formal separation of a church into two churches or the withdrawal of one group over doctrinal differences | - |
| scholasticism | (noun) orthodoxy of a scholastic variety | Synonyms: academicism, academism |
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| sciolism | (noun) pretentious superficiality of knowledge | - |
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| secessionism | (noun) a doctrine that maintains the right of secession | - |
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| sectarianism | (noun) a narrow-minded adherence to a particular sect or party or denomination | Synonyms: denominationalism |
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| sectionalism | (noun) a partiality for some particular place | Synonyms: localism, provincialism |
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| secularism | (noun) a doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations | - |
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| segregationism | (noun) a political orientation favoring political or racial segregation | - |
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| seism | (noun) shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane or from volcanic activity | Synonyms: earthquake, quake, temblor |
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