individualism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The tendency for a person to act without reference to others, particularly in matters of style, fashion or mode of thought.

   He believes that self-improvement and its growing popularity are symptoms of what he calls individualism.

2. 2
   noun

   The moral stance, political philosophy, or social outlook that promotes independence and self-reliance of individual people, while opposing the interference with each person's choices by society, the state, or any other group or institution.

   [A]nd that one great and all-important occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the rise of self-consciousness — that is, the coming of the mind to a more or less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the Self-centred attitude in human thought and action.

3. 3
   noun

   the quality of being individual

4. 4
   noun

   the doctrine that government should not interfere in commercial affairs

5. 5
   noun

   a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence

6. 6
   noun

   The doctrine that only individual things are real.

7. 7
   noun

   The doctrine that nothing exists but the individual self.

Etymology

Borrowed from French individualisme, equivalent to individual + -ism.