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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

animism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

From anima + -ism, from Latin anima (“life", "breath", "soul”). Dated sense from German Animismus, coined c. 1720 by physicist/chemist Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) See anima mundi.

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) A belief that spirits inhabit some or all classes of natural objects or phenomena.
    • "I'm not entirely comfortable with the level of animism you and Hanners display towards that thing." 2015, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 3126: Been A While I Guess:
  2. (countable, uncountable) A belief that an immaterial force animates the universe.
  3. (countable, dated, uncountable) A doctrine that animal life is produced by an immaterial spirit.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
animisms Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

preanimism

Translations (30)

ga anamachas (belief in spirits) · fi animismi (belief in spirits) · de Animismus (belief in spirits) · ru аними́зм (belief in spirits) · af animisme (belief in spirits) · tr canlıcılık (belief in spirits) · yue 泛靈論 /泛灵论 (belief in spirits) · yue 泛靈信仰 /泛灵信仰 (belief in spirits) · km វិញ្ញាណនិយម (belief in spirits) · yue 萬物有靈論 /万物有灵论 (belief in spirits) · el ανιμισμός (belief in spirits) · ko 정령숭배 (belief in spirits) · ca animisme (belief in spirits) · ja 汎霊説 (belief in spirits) · cmn 泛靈論 /泛灵论 (belief in spirits) · sv animism (belief in spirits) · ja アニミズム (belief in spirits) · km ព្រលឹងនិយម (belief in spirits) · pt animismo (belief in spirits) · ja 地霊信仰 (belief in spirits) · ja 精霊信仰 (belief in spirits) · pl animizm (belief in spirits) · ro animism (belief in spirits) · cmn 泛靈信仰 /泛灵信仰 (belief in spirits) · ar أرواحية (belief in spirits) · ko 정령신앙 (belief in spirits) · hi जीववाद (belief in spirits) · fr animisme (belief in spirits) · id animisme (belief in spirits) · cmn 萬物有靈論 /万物有灵论 (belief in spirits)