Suffixes

-cide

-cycle

-cracy

-ic

-ism

-ist

-ography

-oid

-ology

-omics

-onomy

-onym

-philia

-phobia

-scope

-stan

-ware

The English suffix -ism was first used to form a noun of action from a verb, as in baptism, from baptein, a Greek word meaning "to dip", and then extended to systems of belief.

The word ism was first used in 1680 and can be found in the works of such well-known writers as Thomas Carlyle, Julian Huxley and George Bernard Shaw. In the present day, it appears in the title of a standard survey of political thought, Today's ISMS by William Ebenstein, first published in the 1950s, and now in its 11th edition.

The -ism suffix can be used to express the following concepts:

• doctrine, theory or religion (e.g. pacifism)
• theory developed by an individual (e.g. Marxism)
• political movement (e.g. feminism)
• action, process or practice (e.g. terrorism)
• characteristic, quality or origin (e.g. heroism)
• state or condition (e.g. pauperism)
• excess or disease (e.g. botulism)
• prejudice or bias (e.g. racism)
• characteristic speech patterns (e.g. Yogiism)

What follows is a list of words that have the -ism suffix. This list should not include words like prism and schism which end in -ism but have no etymological connection with -ism words.

Contents: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

ableism, abolitionism, absenteeism , absolutism, abstract expressionism, absurdism, activism, adoptionism, adultism , Afrocentrism, ageism, agnosticism, agrarianism, alarmism , Albigensianism, albinism, alcoholism, all-Americanism , Althusserianism , altruism, Americanism, anarchism, anarcho-capitalism, anarcho-syndicalism, aneurysm or aneurism, Anglicanism, Anglicism, animalism, animal magnetism, animism, anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism, anti-Americanism, anti-abolitionism , anticlericalism, antidisestablishmentarianism, anti-imperialism, anti-intellectualism, antinomianism, anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, Apollinarism, archaism, Arianism, Aristotelianism, atavism, atheism, Atlanticism, atomism, Atticism, attitudinism , Augustinism , Australianism, authoritarianism, autism, Averroism

B

Ba'athism, Babaism ,Bábísm Bagism , Bahá'ísm, baalism, baptism, behaviorism, Benthamism, Big Brotherism, bilateralism, bilingualism, bimetallism, bjjism , bipedalism, Blairism, bogyism , Bolshevism, Bonapartism , bonism , boosterism, bossism , botulism, breatharianism, bromism , brutalism, brutism , bruxism, Buchmanism, Buddhism, Bukharinism , Bullism , Bushism

C

Caesaropapism, cambism , Calvinism, Caodaism, capitalism, careerism , Carlism, Cartesian dualism, Cartesianism , Castroism, Catharism Catholicism, centralism, centrism, charlatanism , Chartism, Chassidism , chauvinism, checkbook journalism , chemism , classicism, clintonism , clericalism , Clitorism, clonism , cognitivism, coherentism, collectivism, colonialism, communism, compassionate conservatism, Comtism, conformism, conformitarianism , Confucianism, consequentialism, conservatism, Conservative Judaism, contextualism, contrarianism , constructivism, consumerism, corealism , Coreanism, corporatism, cosmism , cosmopolitanism, cosmotheism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cultism , cultural relativism, cynicism, czarism

D

Dadaism, Daoism, Darwinism, deconstructivism, decontextualism , defeatism, deism, deontologism , decentralism, despotism, determinism, deviatonism , Discordianism, disestablismentarianism , Docetism, dodoism , dogmatism, Donatism, do-goodism , do-nothingism , druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism

E

echoism , Edwardianism , effeminism , egocentrism , egoism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, empiricism, environmentalism, environmental racism, epicureanism, Episcopalianism, erotism, essentialism, etatism, ethnic nationalism, ethnocentrism, Eudemonism, Eurocentrism, Eurocommunism, evolutionism, existentialism, exotism , expansionism, expressionism, extremism, extrinsicism , extropism

F

fabianism, faddism , Falangism , fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, Fauvism, federalism, feminism, Fenianism , fetishism, feudalism, fideism, finitism, fogeyism , Food faddism, foot-fetishism, Fordism, formalism, foundationalism, Francoism , freeganism, functionalism (philosophy of mind), functionalism (sociology), fundamentalism

G

Gallicism , Gaullism, gay liberationism , geocentrism, Geoism, Georgianism , Georgism, Germanism, gigantism, globalism, Goreism, Gnosticism, gradualism, Grundyism

H

Hacktivism, Hassidism , hedonism, Hegelianism, heightism , heliocentrism, Hellenism, henotheism, heroism, heterosexism, heterosexualism, Hinduism, hirsutism, historicism, Hitlerism, Hobbesianism , hoboism , homoousianism , homosexualism, Horthyism , hucksterism , humanism, Hussitism , hypnotism

I

idealism, idolism, imagism, imperialism, impressionism, individualism, instructivism , intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, intrinsicism , independentism, irenicism , irredentism, Islamism

J

Jacobinism, Jacobitism, Jainism, Jansenism, Japonism , jingoism, journalism, Judaism, jujuism , juridical positivism

K

Kantianism, kathenotheism, Keynesianism, Khrushchevism without Khrushchev , Know-Nothingism

L

laborism , laicism , lamaism, Lamarckianism, Lancastrianism , leftism, left-liberalism , legalism, legal positivism, Leninism, lesbianism, liberalism, libertarianism, localism, locoism , logical positivism, Lollardism, Lutheranism, lycanthropism

M

magnetism, malapropism, Manichaeanism, Maoism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, masculism, Masochism, materialism, maximalism , McCarthyism, mechanism, Medism , melanism, Menshevism, mesmerism, metabolism, Methodism, militarism, millennialism, minarchism, minimalism, Mithraism, modalism, Modernism, Mohammedanism, Monarchianism, monarchism, monetarism, Mongolism, monism, monolatrism, Monophysitism, monotheism, moral absolutism, moralism, moral positivism , moral relativism, Mormonism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mysticism

N

narcissism, nationalism, National Socialism, nativism, naturalism, naturism, Nazism, negativism , neo-classicism, neoconservatism, neo-Darwinism, neopaganism, neoplatonism, neoclassicism, neoclassicism (music), neo-romanticism, neoromanticism (music), nepotism, Nestorianism, nihilism, nomianism , non-consequentialism , non-interventionism , nonsituationism , nudism, nullificationism

O

obelism , objectivism, occultism, ogreism , onanism, ontologism , optimism, oralism , Orangism, organism, orientalism

P

Pabloism, pacifism, paganism, paleoconservatism, pan-Africanism, pan-Arabism, panentheism, pantheism, pan-Germanism, pan-Slavism, pantheism, papism, patriotism, Patripassianism, Pelagianism, Pentecostalism, peonism , perennialism, Peronism, personalism, pessimism, phallocentrism , pharaonism, phenomenalism, philhellenism , pianism , pietism, Pilgerism , plagiarism, playganism , platonism, plenism , pointillism, political absolutism, polycentrism , polytheism, populism, positivism, postcolonialism, post-Freudianism , postimpressionism, post-Keynesianism , postmodernism, poststructuralism, post-Zionism , pragmatism, Presbyterianism, priapism, primitivism, progressivism, Protestantism, proto-capitalism , Psilanthropism, Puseyism

Q

Quakerism, Quietism

R

racism, radicalism, Raelism, raptivism , Rastafarianism, rationalism, reactionarism , Reaganism , realism, recidivism , redneckism , reductionism, regionalism, relativism, reliabilism, republicanism, Republicanism, revanchism, revisionism, rheumatism, rightism, Roman Catholicism, romanticism, Rosicrucianism, Rousseauism , rugged individualism

S

Sabbatarianism, Sabellianism, sadism, sado-masochism, Saint-simonism , Salvationism, sanism , Sapphism, Satanism, scepticism, Schachtmanism , scholasticism, Scientism, Scotticism , sectarianism, sectionalism, secularism, sedevacantism, sensualism , separatism, sesquipedalianism, sexism, shamanism, Shiism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Situationism, sizism , skepticism, slumism , social Darwinism, social realism, socialism, socialist realism, Socianism, solecism, sophism, sovereigntism, Sparticism , speciesism, Spenglerism , spiritism, spiritualism, Spoonerism, Stalinism, standpatism , stasism , statism, stoicism, structuralism, Sufism, surrealism, syllogism, symbolism, syndicalism, syncretism

T

tachism, Taoism, Taylorism, terrorism, Thatcherism, theism, Thomism, Titoism, Toryism , tourism, totalitarianism, transcendentalism, transgenderism, transhumanism, transsexualism, transsubstantiationism , transvestism, tribalism, Trinitarianism, tropism, tsarism , Trotskyism, tzarism

U

Ultraintuitionism, Ultraleftism , Ultramontanism, Unificationism, unilateralism, Unitarianism, unitarism, Universalism, Universism, uranism , utilitarianism, utopianism

V

vampirism, vandalism, veganism, vegetarianism, Victorianism , Vorticism, voyeurism, vulgarism

W

Wahhabism, Whiggism , Whitlamism , wholism , witticism

X

Y

yellow journalism, Yezidis, Yorkism

Z

Zionism, Zoroastrianism, Zwingliism

External link

• BigDoggy Word Lists: -ism