solipsism

[ sol-ip-siz-uhm ]
See synonyms for solipsism on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Philosophy. the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist.

  2. extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption.

Origin of solipsism

1
1880–85; sol(i)-1 + Latin ips(e) self + -ism

Other words from solipsism

  • sol·ip·sis·mal, adjective
  • sol·ip·sist, noun, adjective
  • sol·ip·sis·tic [sol-ip-sis-tik], /ˌsɒl ɪpˈsɪs tɪk/, adjective

Words that may be confused with solipsism

Words Nearby solipsism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use solipsism in a sentence

  • Of course, when an entire throng is trying to rise above itself, an epidemic of free-form vulgarity and solipsism ensues.

    Punking the White House | Tunku Varadarajan | November 27, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • The Democrats had better start learning what Ayn Rand knew, despite her foolish solipsism.

    A Populist Frankenstein | Lee Siegel | November 26, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Thus idealists are wedded to solipsism irrevocably; and it is a happy marriage, only the name of the lady has to be changed.

    Winds Of Doctrine | George Santayana
  • I realize now that I may have been falling into the trap of solipsism, “who watches the quad,” et cetera, type of thing.

    On Handling the Data | M. I. Mayfield
  • Why not admit solipsism and be true to the transcendental method?

    Character and Opinion in the United States | David Goodger (goodger@python.org)
  • This theory is also called Subjective Idealism or solipsism.

  • The philosophic system becomes a solipsism, a pure lyric expression of the appetites of human nature.

    Creative Intelligence | John Dewey, Addison W. Moore, Harold Chapman Brown, George H. Mead, Boyd H. Bode, Henry Waldgrave, Stuart James, Hayden Tufts, Horace M. Kallen

British Dictionary definitions for solipsism

solipsism

/ (ˈsɒlɪpˌsɪzəm) /


noun
  1. philosophy the extreme form of scepticism which denies the possibility of any knowledge other than of one's own existence

Origin of solipsism

1
C19: from Latin sōlus alone + ipse self

Derived forms of solipsism

  • solipsist, noun, adjective
  • solipsistic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for solipsism

solipsism

[ (sol-uhp-siz-uhm, soh-luhp-siz-uhm) ]


The belief that all reality is just one's own imagining of reality, and that one's self is the only thing that exists.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.