fetishism

American  

[fet-i-shiz-uhm, fee-ti-] / ˈfɛt ɪˌʃɪz əm, ˈfi tɪ- /

Or fetichism

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.

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fetishism British  

/ ˈfɛtɪˌʃɪzəm, ˈfiː- /

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

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Other Word Forms

• fetishist
  noun
• fetishistic
  adjective
• fetishistically
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of fetishism

First recorded in 1795–1805; fetish + -ism

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fetishism

This fetishism straddles the worlds of high-end products and high-end art, both realms where wait lists are common, and connections and prestige are just as important as currency itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

For all its brutality, the series retains the original’s romance without sliding into its predecessor’s cultural fetishism.

From Salon ● Feb. 27, 2024

"We need to be pragmatic and guided by observed data, including underlying inflation, without fetishism for increases that are too mechanical," he added.

From Reuters ● Jan. 5, 2023

A genre maestro with both a flair and a weakness for grandiose stylistic flourishes, Park seizes upon Hitchcock’s aesthetics of voyeurism and desire and pushes them to new extremes of high-tech fetishism.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2022

With the disappearance of Africans from West India regiments, the offence of fetishism has, however, also disappeared.

From The History of the First West India Regiment by A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis

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