idiotism
1 Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of idiotism1
First recorded in 1585–95; idiot + -ism
Origin of idiotism2
1580–90; < Latin idiōtismus < Greek idiōtismós a vulgar phrase, peculiar way of speaking
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.
We have become so used to the thought that any higher literacy is in retreat before the forces of electronic media and consumer idiotism, that perhaps to imagine the opposite has become impossible.
From The Guardian • Feb. 25, 2011
They had not advanced to the still more horrid stages of palsy, apoplexy, epilepsy, idiotism, St. Vitus's dance, blindness, or insanity.
From The Young Man's Guide by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)
Such cases tell no more against moral intuitions than do cases of colour-blindness or idiotism tell against sight and reason.
From On the Genesis of Species by Mivart, St. George
It seems to me to be downright idiotism.
From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall
Again, to say that this matter was the cause of itself; this, of all other, were the greatest idiotism.
From Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations by Eliot, Charles William
Definitions 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.
