nihilism

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪ.lɪ.z(ə)m/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnɪ-/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈniː-/
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• Received-Pronunciation: [-(h)ɨ̞-]
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• General-American: /ˈnaɪ.əˌlɪ.z(ə)m/
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• General-American: /ˈni.ə-/
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• General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪ.lɪz.m̩/
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• General-American: /ˈnaɪ.əˌlɪz.m̩/
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• General-American: /ˈniː-/
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• CMU ARPABET: N AY1 AH0 L IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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Borrowed from Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm).

Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus; the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil (“indefinite nothing”), from nihilum (“nothing”), from ne- (prefix negating the principal meaning) + hīlum (“a trifle; not in the least”). The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm), philosophical doctrine grounded on negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; emptiness; lack of education and cultural refinement.

132 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Dutch: Nihilisme — movement that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change
• French: nihilisme — movement that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change
• Norwegian Bokmål: nihilisme — movement that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change
• Polish: nihilizm — movement that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change
• Romanian: nihilism — movement that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change
• Russian: нигили́зм (nigilízm) — movement that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change
• Arabic: عَدَمِيَّة (ʕadamiyya) — view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning
• Hindi: शून्यवाद (śūnyavād) — view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning
• Hindi: नकारवाद (nakārvād) — view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning
• Hindi: नाशवाद (nāśvād) — view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning
• Hindi: नास्तिवाद (nāstivād) — view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning
• Norwegian Bokmål: nihilisme — view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning
• Arabic: عَدَمِيَّة (ʕadamiyya) — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Catalan: nihilisme — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Chinese Mandarin: 虛無主義 /虚无主义 (xūwúzhǔyì) — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Czech: nihilizmus — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Danish: nihilisme — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Dutch: (ethisch) nihilisme — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Finnish: nihilismi — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• French: nihilisme — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Galician: nihilismo — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• German: Nihilismus — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Greek: μηδενισμός (midenismós) — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Italian: nichilismo — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Japanese: ニヒリズム (nihirizumu) — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Japanese: 虚無主義 (kyomu shugi) — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Norwegian Bokmål: nihilisme — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Occitan: nihilisme — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Polish: nihilizm — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Portuguese: niilismo — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Russian: нигили́зм (nigilízm) — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Serbo-Croatian: nihilizam — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Lower Sorbian: nihilismus — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Spanish: nihilismo — rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, moral principles, legal rules, etc.
• Afrikaans: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Albanian: nihilizmi — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Arabic: عَدَمِيَّة (ʕadamiyya) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Arabic: عدمية — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Arabic: نيهيلية — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Armenian: նիհիլիզմ (nihilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Asturian: nihilismu — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Azerbaijani: nihilizm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Basque: nihilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Belarusian: нігілізм (nihilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Bulgarian: нихилизъм (nihilizǎm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Carpathian Rusyn: нігілізм (nihilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Catalan: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Cebuano: magtagad sa panghunahuna — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Chinese: 虛無主義 /虚无主义 (hi-bû-chú-gī) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Chinese Mandarin: 虛無主義 /虚无主义 (xūwúzhǔyì) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Czech: nihilismus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Czech: nihilizmus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Danish: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Dutch: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Esperanto: nihilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Esperanto: neniismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Estonian: nihilism — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Finnish: nihilismi — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• French: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Galician: nihilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Georgian: ნიჰილიზმი (nihilizmi) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• German: Nihilismus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Greek: μηδενισμός (midenismós) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Gujarati: શૂન્યવાદ (śūnyavād) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Haitian Creole: niilism — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Hebrew: ניהיליזם (nihilizem) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Hebrew: אַפְסָנוּת (afesanut) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Hindi: नाइलीज़्म (nāilīzma) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Hindi: निषेधवाद (niṣedhvād) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Hindi: विनाशवाद (vināśvād) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Hungarian: nihilizmus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Icelandic: níhílismi — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Icelandic: tómhyggja — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Ido: nihilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Indonesian: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Irish: nihileachas — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Italian: nichilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Italian: nullismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Jamaican Creole: niyilizim — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Japanese: ニヒリズム (nihirizumu) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Japanese: 虚無主義 (kyomushugi) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Kannada: ನಿರಾಕರಣವಾದ (nirākaraṇavāda) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Kazakh: нигилизм (nigilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Korean: 허무주의 (heomujuui) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Northern Kurdish: nîhîlîzm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Northern Kurdish: hîçparêzî — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Northern Kurdish: hîçperestî — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Northern Kurdish: nînperestî — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Northern Kurdish: tuneperestî — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Kyrgyz: нигилизм (nigilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Latin: nihilismus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Latvian: nihilisms — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Lithuanian: nihilizmas — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Macedonian: нихилизам (nihilizam) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Malay: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Malayalam: നിഹിലിസം (nihilisaṁ) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Manx: neunheeys — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Mingrelian: ნიჰილიზმი (nihilizmi) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Norwegian Bokmål: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Norwegian Nynorsk: nihilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Occitan: niilisme — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Persian: نیهیلیسم — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Polish: nihilizm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Portuguese: niilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Punjabi: ਨਹਿਲਵਾਦ (nahilvād) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Romanian: nihilism — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Russian: нигили́зм (nigilízm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Serbo-Croatian: нихилѝзам — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Serbo-Croatian: nihilìzam — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Slovak: nihilizmus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Slovene: nihilizem — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Somali: faasiqnimo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Lower Sorbian: nihilismus — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Upper Sorbian: nihilizm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Spanish: nihilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Swedish: nihilism — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Tagalog: nihilismo — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Tamil: நீலிசம் (nīlicam) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Tamil: இல்லாமை தத்துவம் (illāmai tattuvam) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Thai: สุญนิยม (sŭn-ní-yom) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Turkish: nihilizm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Turkish: hiççilik — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Turkish: yokçuluk — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Ukrainian: нігілізм (nihilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Urdu: عدمیت ('adamiyyat) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Uzbek: нигилизм (nigilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Uzbek: nigilizm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa hư vô — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Vietnamese: tư tưởng đoạn diệt — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Welsh: nihiliaeth — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Yiddish: ניהיליזם (nihilizm) — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life
• Zazaki: nihilizm — doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life