existentialism

[ eg-zi-sten-shuh-liz-uhm, ek-si- ]

nounPhilosophy.
  1. a philosophical movement that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for making meaningful, authentic choices in a universe seen as purposeless or irrational: existentialism is associated especially with Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre, and is opposed to philosophical rationalism and empiricism.

Origin of existentialism

1
First recorded in 1940–45; from German Existentialismus (1919); see existential, -ism

Other words from existentialism

  • ex·is·ten·tial·ist, adjective, noun
  • ex·is·ten·tial·is·tic, adjective
  • ex·is·ten·tial·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
  • non·ex·is·ten·tial·ism, noun

Words Nearby existentialism

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How to use existentialism in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for existentialism

existentialism

/ (ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃəˌlɪzəm) /


noun
  1. a modern philosophical movement stressing the importance of personal experience and responsibility and the demands that they make on the individual, who is seen as a free agent in a deterministic and seemingly meaningless universe

Derived forms of existentialism

  • existentialist, adjective, noun

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

Cultural definitions for existentialism

existentialism

A movement in twentieth-century literature and philosophy, with some forerunners in earlier centuries. Existentialism stresses that people are entirely free and therefore responsible for what they make of themselves. With this responsibility comes a profound anguish or dread. Søren Kierkegaard and Feodor Dostoyevsky in the nineteenth century, and Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, and Albert Camus in the twentieth century, were existentialist writers.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.