originalism
originalism noun: the view that a text should be interpreted according to the intent of its original authors.
Noun
originalism (usually uncountable, plural originalisms)
- The view that a text should be interpreted according to the intent of its original authors.
- I've known Badalamenti since then, and have chatted with him over the years. Last fall, I spoke at the originalism conference he organized, which hosted the entire Florida Supreme Court, several members of the Eleventh Circuit, and scholars from across the ideological spectrum. I include these...2025 June 22, Josh Blackman, “The New York Times Launches An Unfair Attack On Judge Badalamenti”, in Reason
- One of the points that you’ve made in the past is that when originalism was first taking hold as a popular theory, one of the reasons for its popularity was that it was seen as offering a kind of restraint on justices.2025 October 16, Ross Douthat, “Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Trump Era”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
Forms of originalism
| plural | originalisms |
|---|
Origin of originalism
From original + -ism.
Words formed from originalism
Questions about originalism
- What does originalism mean?
- Originalism means the view that a text should be interpreted according to the intent of its original authors.
- What part of speech is originalism?
- Originalism is a noun.
- What is the plural of originalism?
- The plural of originalism is originalisms.
Words near originalism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: originalism (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “originalism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/originalism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.