See Also:

ism (iou)



-ism suffix.
[French -isme, chiefly from Latin -ismus from Greek -ismos forming nouns of action from verbs in -izein, in part also from Latin -isma from Greek, forming nouns expr. something done.]
Forming usu. abstract nouns expr. (a) a process or practice or its result, as baptism, criticism, organism, freq. with corresp. verbs in -IZE; (b) the conduct characteristic of a class of people, as heroism, patriotism; a (sometimes abnormal) condition of a person or thing, as alcoholism, barbarism, dwarfism, parallelism; (c) (adherence to) a system of theory, belief, or practice (religious, philosophical, political, scientific, etc.), as atheism, Buddhism, Darwinism, feminism, hedonism, Marxism, socialism, Wesleyism; also, a system of discrimination based on a particular criterion, as racism, sexism: usu. with corresp. personal nouns in -IST and freq. with adjectives in -ISTIC; (d) a peculiarity or characteristic of a nation, individual, etc., esp. in language, as Americanism, colloquialism, Spoonerism.