messianism
Americannoun
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(often initial capital letter) the belief in the coming of the Messiah, or a movement based on this belief.
-
the belief in a leader, cause, or ideology as a savior or deliverer.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of messianism
1875–80; < Late Latin Messīān-, stem of Messīās Messiah + -ism
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.
Among religious Zionists in Israel, the victory in 1967 had supercharged a wave of messianism - the belief that a divine being was coming who would redeem the Jewish people.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2025
There is also the classic Cronenberg archetype: the technology guru who hard-sells scientific progress as humankind’s salvation but is in fact consumed by his own greedy messianism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2024
“Even more than the psychology of the leader, it is the psychology of the led that demands to be understood,” wrote Gershom Scholem, the great historian of Jewish messianism.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2022
And then suddenly the story happened with this very different kind of messianism of Ammon's coming in.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2019
Nevala-Lee argues that a lingering messianism at the heart of science fiction — its “persistent dream of an exclusive society of geniuses” — helped to propel Hubbard’s movement, which became Scientology.
From Nature ● Oct. 9, 2018
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.
