Word.ws English Dictionary

Bokononism

Bokononism proper noun: in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle, a religion secretly practiced by the people of San Lorenzo, the supreme religious act of which consists of any two worshippers rubbing the bare soles of their feet together to inspire spiritual connection.

Proper noun

Bokononism

  1. In Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle, a religion secretly practiced by the people of San Lorenzo, the supreme religious act of which consists of any two worshippers rubbing the bare soles of their feet together to inspire spiritual connection.
    • [>We show singles exactly how to find their True Soulmate! And we show Couples how to determine if they have found their True Soulmate!]
      How tough can it be to know once you've found the right one? As long as you're not somewhere that has made Bokononism illegal, couldn't you just put your feet...1997 March 13, the tree by the river, “Re: Still looking for your Soulmate? We can help!”, in soc.singles (Usenet)
    • Because there isn't any, and I can't think of any possible reason that there need be any. Thus I have assumed that there is no god. The difference is that since there *can be* no evidence of it, I must admit that I can not really know the answer. In my case, that is grounds for agnosticism (or...2000 May 8, m. brazeau, “Re: help me refute a theist”, in sci.skeptic (Usenet)

Origin of Bokononism

Coined by American writer Kurt Vonnegut in his novel Cat's Cradle in 1963. Named after the religion's alleged founder, Bokonon + -ism.

Questions about Bokononism

What does Bokononism mean?
Bokononism means in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle, a religion secretly practiced by the people of San Lorenzo, the supreme religious act of which consists of any two worshippers rubbing the bare soles of their feet together to inspire spiritual connection.
What part of speech is Bokononism?
Bokononism is a proper noun.

Words near Bokononism in the dictionary

  1. Boko Haram
  2. Bokod
  3. bokola
  4. bokono
  5. bokonon
  6. Bokononism
  7. bokonons
  8. bokonos
  9. bokor
  10. bokors
  11. bokos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Bokononism (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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Cite this entry: “Bokononism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bokononism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.