deconstructionism
Americannoun
-
the theory or principles of a philosophical and critical movement that questions all traditional assumptions about the ability of language to represent reality and emphasizes that a text has no stable reference or meaning.
-
the theory or principles of a critical movement that questions forms, hierarchies, and assumptions that are thought to be fixed because of the language traditionally used to describe those forms, hierarchies, and assumptions.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deconstructionism
First recorded in 1975–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Or they retreated, following Macdonald’s advice, into social irrelevance by adopting dead-end pseudo-philosophies like deconstructionism.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
In 1966, he organized an academic conference that introduced Jacques Derrida and other French critics to the nation, along with the new academic concept of deconstructionism.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 26, 2019
"Yet this is an architecture as rich in ambiguities and multivalences as anything proposed by postmodernism or deconstructionism."
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2011
Heather Mac Donald once studied literary deconstructionism and clerked for a left-wing judge.
From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2011
Even if such spiritual deconstructionism is true, some scientists--to say nothing of most theologians--think it takes you only so far, particularly when it comes to trying to determine the very existence of God.
From Time Magazine Archive
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
