-isms

Suffix

-ism (noun-forming suffix, countable and uncountable, plural -isms)

1. Used to form nouns of action, process, or result based on the accompanying verb ending in -ise or -ize.
   • baptism (1300), aphorism (1528), criticism (1607), magnetism (1616)
2. Used to form the name of a school of thought, system, or theory based on the name of its subject or object or alternatively on the name of its founder (When de-capitalized, these overlap with the generic "doctrines" sense below, e.g. Liberalism vs. liberalism.)
   • Lutheranism (1560), Calvinism (1570), Protestantism (1606), Congregationalism (1716), Mohammedanism (1815),: Palamism (1949)
3. Used to form names of a tendency of action, behaviour, condition, opinion, or state belonging to a class or group of persons, or the result of a doctrine, ideology, or principle or lack thereof.
   • atheism (1587), ruffianism (1589), giantism (1639), fanaticism (1652), theism (1678), religionism (1706), patriotism (1716), heroism (1717), despotism (1728), old-maidism (1776), capitalism (1792), nationism (1798), romanticism (1803), conservatism (1832), sexualism (1842), vegetarianism (1848)...
4. Used to form countable nouns indicating a peculiarity or characteristic of language
   • Atticism (1612), Gallicism (1656), archaism (1709), Americanism (1781), colloquialism (1834), newspaperism (1838), Shakespearianism (1886)
5. Used to form names of ideologies expressing belief in the superiority of a certain class within the concept expressed by the root word, or a pattern of behavior or a social norm that benefits members of the group indicated by the root word. (Based on a late 20th-century narrowing of the "terms for a doctrine" sense.)
   • racism (1932), sexism (1936), classism (1971), speciesism (1975), heterosexism (1979), ableism (1981)
6. Used to form names of conditions (syndromes, diseases, disorders, defects, addictions) and therapeutical methods or doctrines.
   • aleydigism, daturism, senilism, teratism, cocainism, climatism, humorism