dialectical materialism

American  

noun

1. a form of materialism, developed chiefly by Karl Marx, noted especially for the application of the Hegelian dialectic in its philosophy of history.

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dialectical materialism British  

noun

1. the economic, political, and philosophical system of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that combines traditional materialism and Hegelian dialectic

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Other Word Forms

• dialectical materialist noun

Etymology

Origin of dialectical materialism

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

But there's words that I've never used before, which were really difficult for me to learn when you have to say things like 'Commandant' or 'public execution' or 'dialectical materialism.'

From Salon

John Maynard Keynes, who outflanked the left's dialectical materialism by spreading capitalist materialism, noted decades ago that the economic opportunity and equality he'd promoted couldn't free the human heart from evil, perhaps especially in prosperity.

From Salon

Not for Putin the scientific philosophy of dialectical materialism that helped to drive research in the former Soviet Union and that remains influential among many of his contemporaries.

From Nature

The autobiography has little to say about dialectical materialism, social fascism, or the Popular Front.

From The New Yorker

When I discovered him as an art student in the late 1950s he was serious about life and death, an intellectual who believed in dialectical materialism and all that.

From Salon