nominalism

[nom-uh-nl-iz-uh m]

noun

(in medieval philosophy) the doctrine that general or abstract words do not stand for objectively existing entities and that universals are no more than names assigned to them.Compare conceptualism, realism(def 5a).

Origin of nominalism

From the French word nominalisme, dating back to 1830–40. See nominal, -ism

Related formsnom·i·nal·ist, nounnom·i·nal·is·tic, adjectivenom·i·nal·is·ti·cal·ly, adverbnon·nom·i·nal·is·tic, adjectiveun·nom·i·nal·is·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for nominalism

Historical Examples of nominalism

There is more, however, in Hobbes, than the paradox of nominalism.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 8
Various
Yet what could nominalism do for theology, or for clerical schools?
Science and Medieval Thought
Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt
But Anselm did not rest with combating the Nominalism of Roscelin.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume V
John Lord
And these ideas, which constitute reality, are names, as Nominalism showed.
Tragic Sense Of Life
Miguel de Unamuno
It is the first protest of Nominalism against the doctrine of an extreme Realism.
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume I (of 4)
George Grote

British Dictionary definitions for nominalism

nominalism

noun

the philosophical theory that the variety of objects to which a single general word, such as dog, applies have nothing in common but the nameCompare conceptualism, realism

Derived Formsnominalist, noun, adjectivenominalistic, 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 nominalism

1820, "view that treats abstract concepts as names only, not realities," from French nominalisme (1752), from nominal, from Latin nominalis (see nominal). Related: Nominalist.