accismus
Syllables: ac·cis·mus/ækˈsɪzməs/
accismus noun: the feigning of disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
Noun
accismus (uncountable)
- The feigning of disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
- On this account, mothers, fathers, men, and even youths, are their best companions; on the contrary, girls connected with other girls of a similar age, as in schools, provoke one another to an exchange of foibles, rather than of excellences, to a love of dress, admiration, and gossip, even to the...1866, Jean Paul, Levana: Or, The Doctrine of Education, page 194
- The keen eye of the ancient comedians detected this weakness in Athenian demagogues who declined office with a view to making their election surer, and Philippides gave it the name accismus.1888 March 8, The Nation, number 1184, page 188
Origin of accismus
Unadapted borrowing from Latin accismus, from Ancient Greek ακκισμός (akkismós, “prudery”).
Questions about accismus
- What does accismus mean?
- Accismus means the feigning of disinterest in something while actually desiring it.
- What part of speech is accismus?
- Accismus is a noun.
- How do you pronounce accismus?
- Accismus is pronounced /ækˈsɪzməs/.
Words near accismus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: accismus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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