nihilism

Nihilism is extreme skepticism about existence and about religious or moral principles.

(noun)

A desire for the complete complete rejection of the established order or social system and religious principles is an example of nihilism.

See nihilism in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

Philos.
1. the denial of the existence of any basis for knowledge or truth
2. 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
1. the doctrine that existing social, political, and economic institutions must be completely destroyed in order to make way for new institutions
2. 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
3. loosely any violent revolutionary movement involving the use of terrorism

Origin: < L nihil (see nihil) + -ism

Related Forms:

See nihilism in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Philosophy
a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.
Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.

Origin:

Origin: Latin nihil, nothing; see ne in Indo-European roots

Origin: + -ism

Related Forms: