nihilism

1. (usually uncountable) The view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning.Examples: "This classification should have led to the discovery and study of remedies which act specifically upon the various textures and tissues of the body, such as the cellular, serous, mucous, parenchymatous, fibrous, gelatinous, &c., but it did not, except in the most imperfect manner—so imperfect, in fact, that most pathologists, despairing of finding such remedies, at one time sank into all the peurilities^([sic – meaning puerilities]) of the "expectant mode" of the French, or the nihilisms of the German."; "But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: [...] the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; [...]"; "Anger at the system turned to anger against art. Damn that foolery too, which took, but never gave. A promise of achievement always withdrawn; an assurance of dignity and ease for ever vanishing over the skyline. The virus of communistic nihilism simmered within him, wishing to submerge all effort in an easily filled belly."Synonyms: existential nihilismuncountableusually

2. (usually uncountable) The rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, (inherent or objective) moral principles, legal rules, etc., often due to the view that life is meaningless (sense 1).Examples: "[T]he dire portent of Nihilism, which some persons regard as little more than an extreme protest against absolutism in Government, [...] is an execrable conspiracy against all religion and morality."; "Seen through all these glasses Russia is judged, or rather misjudged, by the western world; no wonder, therefore, that it is believed to be a barbarous country, governed by tyrants, inhabited by a savage population; a mixture of indolence, ignorance, despotism, and nihilism, without one of the redeeming features of culture or civilization."; "Most Christians cannot embrace such radical extremes as the current nihilisms that deny all spiritual and ethical truth. How can a Christian look to Jesus Christ and deny that there is truth? He is the truth."Synonyms: moral nihilismuncountableusually

3. (usually uncountable, politics) The rejection of non-proven or non-rationalized assertions in the social and political spheres of society.Examples: "As with the original American historicists, they accept only historical references and deny all extrahistorical references, including those implicit in idealism and positivism. [...] They deny both authoritarian and subjectivistic nihilisms, and they affirm the responsibility of the subject."uncountableusually

4. (uncountable, psychiatry) A delusion that oneself or the world, or parts thereof, have ceased to exist.Examples: "Individuals with schizophrenia often cycle between nihilistic and solipsistic moods—when in the grip of nihilism they appear to have lost experiential contact with their very existence, [...]"; "Melancholia is the most typical and classical presentation of depression with several compelling features such as impoverishment of emotional life and delusions of nihilism or guilt."uncountable

5. (uncountable, Russia, politics, historical) Alternative letter-case form of Nihilism (“a Russian movement of the 1860s that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change”).Examples: "The Government took up the word, and used nihilism to stigmatize all revolutionary, and ultra democratic and socialistic tendencies; and we have seen it play its part in the recent investigations into the attempted assassination of the Emperor."Russiaalt-ofhistoricaluncountable

6. (countable, uncountable, philosophy) A doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists.Examples: "This great metaphysician [John Locke] considered, our ideas were derived from sensation and reflection; and preserved the distinction between these two sources of knowledge with great care; but by a perversion of his theory, his followers reduced them to sensation alone;—which by a necessary gradation leads to materialism, atheism and nihilism."; "This view may be styled Religious Nihilism. It affirms that Theism, or faith in an Almighty and All-wise Creator, Pantheism, and Atheism, are alike mere guesses in the dark, and that nothing is or can be known of that mysterious Something, which is the origin of the universe."; "Nihilism is the result of continued and extreme philosophical scepticism [...] Among the first developments of Greek philosophy we find the nihilism of Georgias, one of the Sophists, and a contemporary of Socrates. He taught (1) that nothing exists; for if anything were, its being must be either derived or eternal; but it cannot have been derived, whether from the existent or from the non-existent (according to the Eleatics); nor can it be eternal, for then it must be infinite; but the infinite is nowhere, since it can neither be in itself nor in anything else, and what is nowhere is not."Antonyms: antinihilismcountableuncountable