Word.ws English Dictionary

effectism

effectism noun: a form of art based on producing an effect rather than conveying an idea.

Noun

effectism (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory) A form of art based on producing an effect rather than conveying an idea.
    • I despise imitation and effectism. No great art ever rose or ever can rise that is based upon imitation or that sacrifices truth for effect.1894, Lorettus Sutton Metcalf, Walter Hines Page, Joseph Mayer Rice, The Forum, volume 17, page 696

Origin of effectism

From effect + -ism.

Questions about effectism

What does effectism mean?
Effectism means a form of art based on producing an effect rather than conveying an idea.
What part of speech is effectism?
Effectism is a noun.

Words near effectism in the dictionary

  1. effectibility
  2. effectible
  3. effecting
  4. effection
  5. effections
  6. effectism
  7. effectivate
  8. effectivated
  9. effectivates
  10. effectivating
  11. effective

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: effectism (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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