Dictionary

ruralism en · NOUN

Etymology

From rural + -ism.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Advocacy of rural life instead of urbanism or city living.
   • ...'By "ruralism" I mean the glorification of country life, and a dissatisfaction with urbanism... 2001, Mathew Humphrey, chapter 1, in Political theory and the environment: a reassessment, →ISBN, page 24:
   • Ruralism conserves its isolation,... 1998, Nels Anderson, Raffaele Rauty, “Urbanism as a way of life”, in On hobos and homelessness, →ISBN, page 277:
2. (countable, uncountable) Rural living.
   • Here, for the first time, had Marcella been brought face to face with the agricultural world as it is--no stage ruralism, but the bare fact in one of its most pitiful aspects. 1894, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Marcella:
   • At the end of the cycle Roman culture was turning its back upon ruralism and moving into a culture that was to be chiefly urban during an entire millennium. 1975, Scott Nearing, Civilization and Beyond:
3. (countable, uncountable) The state or quality of being rustic.
   • The beautifully hypnotic patterns that have become an earmark, of the Ritual Trio are well suited to Bang's varied solo flights; on the album's affecting "Pedro," Bang's rough violin scrapes convey a backwoodsy ruralism, recalling the rootsy fiddle playing of southern prewar black string bands, while the title track with its propulsive near-swing finds him putting out a wild, Ornette-ish sound splash. 1994 April 8, Peter Margasak, “Kahil El'Zabar, Malachi Favors, Billy Bang”, in Chicago Reader:
   • He had a robust earthiness that signified authenticity, especially to Americans of the postwar era who prized ruralism and took vernacular artists to be truer, more legitimate, than trained urban professionals. 2007 September 8, David Hajdu, “Tenor of the Times”, in New York Times:
4. (countable) A rural idiom or expression.

Forms

Coordinates

agrarianism (advocacy of rural living)

Relateds

ruralist

Synonyms

rusticity (state or quality of being rural or rustic) · backwoodsiness (state or quality of being rural or rustic) · rurality (state or quality of being rural or rustic) · rusticism (state or quality of being rural or rustic) · ruralness (state or quality of being rural or rustic)