Dictionary

graphism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɹæf.ɪz.(ə)m/ (General-American)
• /ˈɡɹɑːf.ɪz.(ə)m/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “to draw, paint, sketch; to write”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism, a suffix forming abstract nouns of action, state, condition, or doctrine”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The expression of thought in material symbols.
   • The complex but fundamental relationship between language and graphism is one of the more provocative recognitions of Gesture and Speech. 1993, Randall White, Gesture and Speech, Introduction, page xix:
   • In effect, the analogy of writing that lies at the core of graphism has subtly colonized the conversation. 2014, Colonial Mediascapes, page 297:
   • Visceral and biomorphic graphism resists dominant ideologies by maintaining independence from voice, but unlike other forms of disconnected graphism, visceral graphism does not engage in a degenerative turn; it inherently generates new meaning. 2014, Rebecca Mark, Ersatz America:

Forms