nihilism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the delusion that things, or everything, including the self, do not exist

   The nihilism of the group made me uneasy.

2. 2
   noun

   Something that is regarded as meaningless.

   This mock reasoning proves that those deliberately making use of it are, during the process, insane; inasmuch as they are attempting to reason by means of suppositions, by means of nihilisms, negative quantities.

Appears in

Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus; the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil (“indefinite nothing”), from nihilum (“nothing”), from ne- (prefix negating the principal meaning) + hīlum (“a trifle; not in the least”). The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm), philosophical doctrine grounded on negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; emptiness; lack of education and cultural refinement.

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