Ism , n. [See ism, above.]
A doctrine or theory; especially, a wild or visionary theory.
E. Everett.
The world grew light-headed, and forth came a
spawn of isms which no man
can number.
S. G. Goodrich.
-ism (?). [F. -isme, or L. -ismus, Gr. &?;.]
A suffix indicating an act, a
process, the result of an
act or a process, a state; also, a characteristic (as a theory, doctrine, idiom, etc.); as, baptism, galvanism, organism, hypnotism, socialism, sensualism, Anglicism.
Hear it pronounced