Word.ws English Dictionary

legalisms

legalisms is the plural of legalism.

Meaning of legalism

Noun

legalism (countable and uncountable, plural legalisms)

  1. (uncountable) The focusing on the text of written law to the exclusion of the intent of law, elevating strict adherence to law over justice, mercy, grace and common sense.
    Synonyms:
    casuistry
  2. (derogatory, often, uncountable) A belief that salvation is attained or maintained by adherence to the requirements of moral law; salvation by works rather than by faith alone.
  3. (countable) A legal axiom, term or rule.

See all 4 meanings of legalism

Questions about legalisms

What is legalisms the plural of?
Legalisms is the plural of legalism.

Words near legalisms in the dictionary

  1. legaliser
  2. legalisers
  3. legalises
  4. legalising
  5. legalism
  6. legalisms
  7. legalist
  8. legalistic
  9. legalistically
  10. legalistics
  11. legalists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: legalisms (page history and authors); legalism (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: “legalisms.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/legalisms. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.