creationism

American  

[kree-ey-shuh-niz-uhm] / kriˈeɪ ʃəˌnɪz əm /

noun

1. the doctrine that matter and all things were created, substantially as they now exist, by an omnipotent Creator, and not gradually evolved or developed.

2. (sometimes initial capital letter) the doctrine that the true story of the creation of the universe is as it is recounted in the Bible, especially in the first chapter of Genesis.

3. the doctrine that God immediately creates out of nothing a new human soul for each individual born.

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creationism British  

/ kriːˈeɪʃəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. the belief that God brings individual human souls into existence at conception or birth Compare traducianism

2. the doctrine that ascribes the origins of all things to God's acts of creation rather than to evolution

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creationism Cultural  

1. A literal belief in the biblical account of Creation as it appears in the Book of Genesis. Creationists believe that the creation of the world and all its creatures took place in six calendar days; they therefore deny the theory of evolution.

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Other Word Forms

• anticreationism noun
• anticreationist noun
• creationist noun
• creationistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of creationism

First recorded in 1840–50; creation + -ism

Example Sentences

Others have argued that intelligent design is just creationism in a new package.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 22, 2024

A: I grew up in a ministry family that believed in young Earth creationism.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 29, 2023

The Discovery Institute is the de facto center of intelligent design; its almost seamless movement into Brazil demonstrates the ease with which creationism has begun to weave its way into society.

From Scientific American • May 12, 2023

In books and lectures, he defined himself as a philosopher-scientist who sought to reconcile religious beliefs such as creationism with the worlds of quantifiable evidence such as evolution.

From Washington Post • Mar. 7, 2023

Monadology, theories of the pre-existence of the soul, creationism, or the current traducianism—which to-day, with its partly or wholly materialistic basis, is just as naïve as the older—all reveal equal darkness.

From Naturalism And Religion by Otto, Rudolf