nihilism

Meaning

Noun

• The view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning.
• 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).
• The rejection of non-proven or non-rationalized assertions in the social and political spheres of society.
• A delusion that oneself or the world, or parts thereof, have ceased to exist.
• Alternate spelling of Nihilism
• 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.
• Something that is regarded as meaningless.

Origin

• Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus + English -ism; the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil, from nihilum, from ne- + hīlum. The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian нигили́зм.