spiritualism

[spir-i-choo-uh-liz-uh m]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR spiritualism ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

the practices or phenomena associated with this belief.

the belief that all reality is spiritual.

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

spiritual quality or tendency.

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

Origin of spiritualism

First recorded in 1825–35; spiritual + -ism

Related formsspir·it·u·al·is·tic, adjectivespir·it·u·al·is·ti·cal·ly, adverban·ti·spir·it·u·al·ism, nounan·ti·spir·it·u·al·is·tic, adjective

Can be confusedspirited spiritual spiritualistic

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

Related Words for spiritualism

clairvoyance, insight, premonition, presentiment, spiritualism, ESP, parapsychology, pietism, cabalism, cabala, quietism, kabala, telesthesia, cabbalism, ontologism, orphism

Examples from the Web for spiritualism

Contemporary Examples of spiritualism

Nevertheless, the triumph of West Coast spiritualism over East Coast secularism has civilization-wide implications.
Can Heritage Foundation Posterboy Bono Save the GOP?
James Poulos
March 15, 2014
All three were anxious," Gray writes, "that the rise of Spiritualism would block the advance of scientific materialism.
Our Crazy Quest for Immortality
Malcolm Jones
May 14, 2011

Historical Examples of spiritualism

Moreover, when he was about thirty, he had busied himself with spiritualism.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola
She has a most amazing fund of common-sense and is "down" on Spiritualism to a degree.
Kent Knowles: Quahaug
Joseph C. Lincoln
I believe in dreams and presentiments and Spiritualism and all the rest of it now.
Kent Knowles: Quahaug
Joseph C. Lincoln
Science, as a rule, has avoided the subject of Spiritualism.
Lippincott's Magazine, September, 1885
Various
This is the oldest and still the most popular theory—the theory of spiritualism.
Mind and Motion and Monism
George John Romanes

British Dictionary definitions for spiritualism

spiritualism

noun

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

the doctrines and practices associated with this belief

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

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

the condition or quality of being spiritual

Derived Formsspiritualist, nounspiritualistic, 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 spiritualism

1796, "advocacy of a spiritual view," from spiritual + -ism. Table-rapping sense is from 1853.