Word.ws English Dictionary

elitism

/ɪˈliːtɪzəm/

elitism noun: the belief that a society or system should be run by an elite.

Noun

elitism (countable and uncountable, plural elitisms)

  1. The belief that a society or system should be run by an elite.
  2. The superior attitude or behaviour associated with an elite.
    • Dati launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, François Fillon, under whom she served as justice minister, accusing him of sexism, elitism, arrogance and hindering the political advancement of ethnic minorities.2011 December 14, Angelique Chrisafis, “Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism”, in The Guardian

elitism meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Arabic

elitism in Tamil

belief society should be run by elite
எளிடிசம் eḷiṭicam

elitism in Bengali

belief society should be run by elite
এলিটিজম eliṭijom

elitism in Malayalam

belief society should be run by elite
എലിറ്റിസം eliṟṟisaṁ

elitism in Arabic

belief society should be run by elite
نُخْبَوِيَّة nuḵbawiyya
More languagesFewer languages
elitism in Persian
نخبهگرایی noxbe-garâyi

Forms of elitism

pluralelitisms
alternative formélitism

Origin of elitism

From elite + -ism. First attested in the 1930s.

Words formed from elitism

Questions about elitism

What does elitism mean?
Elitism means the belief that a society or system should be run by an elite.
What is elitism in Tamil?
Elitism in Tamil is எளிடிசம் (eḷiṭicam). See Elitism meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is elitism?
Elitism is a noun.
How do you pronounce elitism?
Elitism is pronounced /ɪˈliːtɪzəm/.
What is the plural of elitism?
The plural of elitism is elitisms.

Words near elitism in the dictionary

  1. eliter
  2. elites
  3. elitest
  4. eliticide
  5. eliticides
  6. elitism
  7. elitisms
  8. elitist
  9. elitistly
  10. elitists
  11. elitocide

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: elitism (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-elitism.ogg.

Cite this entry: “elitism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/elitism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.