Standard Lemma guide

Spiritism

name · noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

name

Meaning 1

A philosophical doctrine, established in France in the mid nineteenth century, postulating that humans are essentially immortal spirits that temporarily inhabit physical bodies, and may have influence on the physical world.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Spiritualism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Alternative letter-case form of Spiritism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

concern with things of the spirit

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: spirituality, spiritualism, otherworldliness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inwardness, internality

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys-der.? Latin spīrō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin spīritus Old French espiritbor. Middle English spirit English spirit Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism ▲ French spiritismecalq. English Spiritism From spirit + -ism. Calque of French spiritisme.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys-der.? Latin spīrō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin spīritus Old French espiritbor. Middle English spirit English spirit Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English spiritism From spirit + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: espiritisme — philosophical doctrine
  • Chinese Mandarin: 通靈術 /通灵术 (tōnglíngshù) — philosophical doctrine
  • Chinese Mandarin: 唯靈論 /唯灵论 (wéilínglùn) — philosophical doctrine
  • Czech: spiritismus — philosophical doctrine
  • Danish: spiritisme — philosophical doctrine
  • Dutch: spiritisme — philosophical doctrine
  • Esperanto: spiritismo — philosophical doctrine
  • Finnish: spiritismi — philosophical doctrine
  • French: spiritisme — philosophical doctrine
  • German: Spiritismus — philosophical doctrine
  • Greek: πνευματισμός (pnevmatismós) — philosophical doctrine
  • Icelandic: spíritismi — philosophical doctrine
  • Irish: spioradachas — philosophical doctrine
  • Italian: spiritismo — philosophical doctrine
  • Japanese: スピリティズム — philosophical doctrine
  • Latin: spiritismus — philosophical doctrine
  • Norwegian: spiritisme — philosophical doctrine
  • Polish: spirytyzm — philosophical doctrine
  • Portuguese: espiritismo — philosophical doctrine
  • Russian: спиритизм (spiritizm) — philosophical doctrine
  • Serbo-Croatian: spiritizam — philosophical doctrine
  • Spanish: espiritismo — philosophical doctrine
  • Swedish: spiritism — philosophical doctrine
  • Turkish: spiritizm — philosophical doctrine
  • Vietnamese: thuyết thông linh — philosophical doctrine
  • Vietnamese: thông linh luận — philosophical doctrine
Real reading context

Spiritism in complete knowledge articles