bastardism

Noun

bastardism (countable and uncountable, plural bastardisms)

1. (uncountable) The condition of being born out of wedlock; bastardy.
   • So much in those days for royal bastardism.1829, Alexander Maxwell Adams, The Crawfurd Peerage, page 50
   • At least in the case of the election of that illustrious bastard who took the name of Clement VII, the cardinal electors were given to understand that their favorite candidates bastardy was not quite uncontroverted, or uncontrovertible; but in the case of the clergymen alluded to, no doubt could be...1853 May, “State of Things in the Kingdom of Sardinia”, in The Christian World, volume 4, number 5, page 208
2. (uncountable) A tendency to produce bastards; lack of chastity.
   • A full one-third, and oftentimes more, is expended upon officials and in defraying establishment charges; the remainder is wasted upon the most worthless and vicious of the population, and in sustaining bastardism.1877, James Maher, Patrick Francis Moran, The Letters of Rev. James Maher, D.D.,, page 313
   • These included "Bastardism", the alleged tendency among the French of begetting illegitimate children, with which they might be expected to swamp Britain and "to weaken the State" itself.2005, Siddiqi Majid, The British Historical Context and Petitioning in Colonial India, page 34
3. (uncountable) Racial impurity; that state or quality of being mixed-race.
   • The old man of the family is a mulatto, the mother an Indian; only one of the race has any tolerable pretensions to whiteness of complexion, and this must be the effect of bastardism or of some wild anomalous lusus naturae, or whim of nature, as the philosophers call it, which however has no...1779, "Continental Currency", “To the Public”, in United State Magazine
   • We may well shudder in thinking of the results of such marriages from the triple view of criminality, bastardism of the race, and wretched homes.1900, Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Betty, page 209
4. (uncountable) Sexual reproduction involving different species.
   • It is generally well known that all efforts of bastardism to propagate are sterile, and we need not witness the efforts of the horse and mule trying to create a new and better species.1886, Richard E. Kunze, “Reports from States on the Status of Eclectic Medicine: New York”, in Transactions of the National Eclectic Medical Association, volume 13, page 85
   • That the seed is not responsible seems certain, since when "bastardism " does occur among swedes, the appearance of the plant differs markedly from that of one affected with cabbage-top.1912, University of Leeds, “Cabbage-top in Swedes”, in Bulletins, page 3
5. An unnatural combination; a mixture of things that do not belong together.
   • The Dukes of Savoy did not reside on the sunny side of the Alps till about the middle of the sixteenth century, and even then, far from becoming naturalized to the climate of Italy, they gave Piedmont that tinge of French bastardism, against which the newly arisen national spirit is now so...1842, The Foreign Quarterly Review, page 396
   • The innovations and bastardisms wrought into Masonry since 1844, by that unfortunate book, exceed, when summed up, the innovations and bastardisms from all other sources united.1864, Voice of Masonry and Tidings from the Craft - Volume 2, page 183
6. (uncountable) Ideological concern with whether someone is related by blood.
   • Bastardism is everywhere. In the Tiny Tears commercial a three-year-old tells her dolly not to cry because "she's her very own baby"? Don't you see? It's Bloodspeak, right in the language: Comes by it honestly.2006, Dorothy Palmer, When Fenelon Falls, page 213
   • You could say that bastardism is my ideology, even though María Galindo despises the notion of ideology because its authoritarian and academic and, therefore, embedded in the hierarchical structures of patriarchy.2022, Cristina Morales, Easy Reading: The new novel from the Spanish literary sensation
7. An act or quality of being bastardly; contemptibleness, cruelty, or lack of proper behavior.
   • By God, indeed; I cannot stand your bastardism, Jacques,” and I took my blanket in hand, dashed from the room, and made my bed in the hallway.2005, Jonathan Dunn, The Hedonist, page 11
   • His worldview has several euphemistic aliases— "rugged individualism," "egoism," or "social Darwinism," to name a few— though in his case, "pitiless, selfish bastardism” may be more accurate.2008, Mark T. Conard, The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers, page 153