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nihilism
noun
- Philos.
- the denial of the existence of any basis for knowledge or truth
- the general rejection of customary beliefs in morality, religion, etc.also ethical nihilism
- the belief that there is no meaning or purpose in existence
- Politics
- the doctrine that existing social, political, and economic institutions must be completely destroyed in order to make way for new institutions
- a movement in Russia (c. 1860-1917) which advocated such revolutionary reform and attempted to carry it out through the use of terrorism and assassination
- loosely any violent revolutionary movement involving the use of terrorism
Related Forms:
- nihilist noun
- nihilistic adjective
See nihilism in American Heritage Dictionary 4
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