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Synonyms

spiritualism

American  
[spir-i-choo-uh-liz-uhm] / ˈspɪr ɪ tʃu əˌlɪz əm /

noun

  1. the belief or doctrine that the spirits of the dead, surviving after the mortal life, can and do communicate with the living, especially through a person (a medium) particularly susceptible to their influence.

  2. the practices or phenomena associated with this belief.

  3. the belief that all reality is spiritual.

  4. Metaphysics. any of various doctrines maintaining that the ultimate reality is spirit or mind.

  5. spiritual quality or tendency.

  6. insistence on the spiritual side of things, as in philosophy or religion.


spiritualism British  
/ ˈspɪrɪtjʊəˌlɪzəm /

noun

  1. the belief that the disembodied spirits of the dead, surviving in another world, can communicate with the living in this world, esp through mediums

  2. the doctrines and practices associated with this belief

  3. philosophy the belief that because reality is to some extent immaterial it is therefore spiritual

  4. any doctrine (in philosophy, religion, etc) that prefers the spiritual to the material

  5. the condition or quality of being spiritual

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of spiritualism

First recorded in 1825–35; spiritual + -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.

See Examples For:

Their mission: Finding myriad ways to convey how faith and spiritualism, in their many forms, manifested themselves around the world in 2023.

From Seattle Times Dec. 18, 2023

For me, as someone who grew up Ethiopian and Evangelical, all of this spiritualism was new ground I was breaking into, and I was scared of what it held for me.

From Salon Oct. 27, 2023

Raised Baptist, Pettijohn eventually balanced mindfulness work with church, and attends Unity Church, which is a Christian denomination that emphasizes spiritualism and universalism.

From Washington Post Jul. 4, 2022

Preoccupied with spiritualism and the occult as well as with her painting, Ms. Keane said nothing publicly even after discovering what her husband was up to, remaining passively complicit in the fraud for a decade.

From New York Times Jun. 28, 2022

The three Mora sisters were students of spiritualism and supernatural phenomena.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

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