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• universalism
  universalism

  noun

  universal character; universality.
• Universalism
  Universalism

  noun

  a system of religious beliefs maintaining that all men are predestined for salvation

universalism

American  

[yoo-nuh-vur-suh-liz-uhm] / ˌju nəˈvɜr səˌlɪz əm /

noun

1. universal character; universality.

2. a universal range of knowledge, interests, or activities.

3. (initial capital letter) the doctrine that emphasizes the universal fatherhood of God and the final salvation of all souls.

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universalism ¹ British  

/ ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. a universal feature or characteristic

2. another word for universality

3. social welfare the principle that welfare services should be available to all by right, according to need, and not restricted by individual ability to pay, but funded by general contributions through taxes, rates, or national insurance payments

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Universalism ² British  

/ ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. a system of religious beliefs maintaining that all men are predestined for salvation

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Other Word Forms

• Universalist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of universalism

First recorded in 1795–1805; universal + -ism

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

universalism Universalism

“They will be Palestinian New Yorkers in Bay Ridge who will no longer have to contend with a politics that speaks of universalism and then makes them the exception.”

From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2026

Habsburg universalism rested on the Catholic Church, the symbolic order of the Holy Roman Empire and the use of Latin as the “neutral language of administration.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

While focusing on all students, the foundation is also tailoring some of its offerings to particular student groups — a principle called targeted universalism.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 22, 2024

Brustein’s universalism grew ornerier and more claustrophobic with age.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2023

Those who assert the universalistic character of the episode generally deny its authenticity; most of those who accept it as historical deny its universalism.

From Supernatural Religion, Vol. III. (of III) An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation by Cassels, Walter Richard

As the novel opens, she has returned to the Unitarian Universalism bequeathed by her parents.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2022

Universalism Very eagle-eyed viewers have spotted small references to Schur’s sitcoms taking place in the same universe.

From The Guardian ● May 26, 2018

Neither Unitarianism nor Universalism thrives well in the South.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2015

The century’s most famous Catholic convert, a journalist named Orestes Brownson, tried Congregationalism, Presbyterianism, Universalism, Unitarianism, and Transcendentalism on his way to Catholicism.

From Slate ● Jul. 8, 2015

He reconciled Calvinism and eternal reprobation with Universalism and final salvation; showing these two doctrines to be all one.

From A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume II by Smith, David Eugene