nominalism

[ nom-uh-nl-iz-uhm ]

/ ˈnɒm ə nlˌɪz əm /

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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).

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Origin of nominalism

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

OTHER WORDS FROM nominalism

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

un·nom·i·nal·is·tic, adjective

Words nearby nominalism

nomenklatura, Nomex, nominal, nominal aphasia, nominal damages, nominalism, nominalize, nominally, nominal par, nominal scale, nominal sentence

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use nominalism in a sentence

His plan was to make theology plain and simple by founding it on the philosophical principles of nominalism.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 8|Various
This gives a wrong impression about Nominalism, that it was banned in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind|Herbert George Wells
Rosmini, in an elaborate criticism, complains that Stewart did not perceive the inevitable tendency of nominalism to materialism.
The English Utilitarians, Volume I.|Leslie Stephen
Ockham in particular falls very short of what I had expected; and his nominalism is strangely different from that of Berkeley.
View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, Vol. 3 (of 3)|Henry Hallam

Thus far nominalism triumphs; but now we arrive at the physical sciences, properly so called.
The Foundations of Science: Science and Hypothesis, The Value of Science, Science and Method|Henri Poincar

British Dictionary definitions for nominalism

nominalism

/ (ˈnɒmɪnəˌlɪzəm) /

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 forms of nominalism

nominalist, 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