Standard Lemma guide

statism

noun · 6 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈsteɪdɪzm/
  • General-American: /ˈsteɪdɪzəm/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsteɪtɪzm/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsteɪtɪzəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S T EY1 T IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Synonym of secularism: subservience of religious issues to political officials and expediency.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: secularism

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Synonym of statecraft or statesmanship.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: statecraft or statesmanship

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Synonym of government or governance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: government or governance

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The belief that most or all political power should be centralized in national governments.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, often, uncountable

Qualifier: political philosophy

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: big government, dirigisme

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: etatism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, big government, dirigisme

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: paternalism

5

noun

Meaning 5

The belief that most or nearly all political power should be decentralized to provincial governments.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, often, uncountable

Qualifier: political philosophy

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: regionalism, federalism, provincialism

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The belief that the state is a legitimate social institution.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory, often, uncountable

Qualifier: political philosophy

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: anarchism

History

Etymology

From stat(e) + -ism. Doublet of etatism. First attested in c. 1600.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: държавен контрол (dǎržaven kontrol) — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Catalan: estatisme — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Chinese Cantonese: 國家主義 /国家主义 (gwok3 gaa1 zyu2 ji6) — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Czech: etatismus — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Dutch: etatisme — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Finnish: valtiojohtoisuus — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Finnish: etatismi — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Finnish: statismi — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • French: étatisme — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • German: Etatismus — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Hungarian: etatizmus — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Hungarian: állampártiság — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Italian: statalismo — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Polish: etatyzm — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Portuguese: estatismo — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Portuguese: estadismo — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Romanian: statalism — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Russian: этати́зм (etatízm) — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Russian: госуда́рственничество (gosudárstvenničestvo) — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Slovene: etatizem — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Spanish: estatalismo — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Spanish: estatismo — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Swedish: etatism — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
  • Turkish: devletçilik — belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state