Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

fetishism

or fet·ich·ism

[fet-i-shiz-uh m, fee-ti-]
See more synonyms for fetishism on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. belief in or use of fetishes.
  2. Psychiatry. the compulsive use of some object, or part of the body, as a stimulus in the course of attaining sexual gratification, as a shoe, a lock of hair, or underclothes.
  3. blind devotion: a fetishism of sacrifice to one's children.
Show More

Origin of fetishism

First recorded in 1795–1805; fetish + -ism
Related formsfet·ish·ist, nounfet·ish·is·tic, adjectivefet·ish·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fetichism

Historical Examples

  • I did not think one could be an archaeologist and yet not believe in fetichism.

    Balthasar

    Anatole France

  • Fetichism, M. Rville also says, is logically a later belief.

  • The Christians of the middle ages, Dr. Draper says, “were immersed in fetichism.”

    The Christ

    John Eleazer Remsburg

  • Dread of these leads to worship, fetichism, and animism, the beginning of religion.

    The Wonders of Life

    Ernst Haeckel

  • The constraint of spirits by fear or violence is characteristic of Fetichism.

British Dictionary definitions for fetichism

fetishism

fetichism

noun
  1. a condition in which the handling of an inanimate object or a specific part of the body other than the sexual organs is a source of sexual satisfaction
  2. belief in or recourse to a fetish for magical purposes
  3. excessive attention or attachment to something
Show More
Derived Formsfetishist or fetichist, nounfetishistic or fetichistic, 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

Word Origin and History for fetichism

fetishism

n.

1801, "worship of fetishes;" in the purely psycho-sexual sense first recorded 1897 in writings of Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), from fetish + -ism.

In certain perversions of the sexual instinct, the person, part of the body, or particular object belonging to the person by whom the impulse is excited, is called the fetish of the patient. [E. Morselli in "Baldwin Dictionary of Philosophy," 1901]

Related: Fetishist (1845; psycho-sexual sense from 1897).

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fetichism in Medicine

fetishism

(fĕt′ĭ-shĭz′əm, fē′tĭ-)
n.
  1. The act of using a fetish for sexual arousal and gratification.
Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.