noun

1. individual character; individuality
2. an individual peculiarity
3. the doctrine that individual freedom in economic enterprise should not be restricted by governmental or social regulation; laissez faire
4. the doctrine that the state exists for the individual and not the individual for the state
5. the doctrine that self-interest is the proper goal of all human actions; egoism
6. 1. action based on any of these doctrines
   2. the leading of one's life in one's own way without conforming to prevailing patterns

Etymology: Fr individualisme