hedonism

American  

[heed-n-iz-uhm] / ˈhid nˌɪz əm /

noun

1. the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good.

2. devotion to pleasure as a way of life.

   The later Roman emperors were notorious for their hedonism.

   Synonyms:

   carousal, dissipation, debauchery, libertinism, sensualism

   Antonyms:

   self-denial, abstemious, asceticism, puritanism

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hedonism British  

/ ˈhɛd-, ˈhiːdəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. ethics

   1. the doctrine that moral value can be defined in terms of pleasure See utilitarianism

   2. the doctrine that the pursuit of pleasure is the highest good

2. the pursuit of pleasure as a matter of principle

3. indulgence in sensual pleasures

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hedonism Cultural  

1. In ethics, the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good in life. Some hedonists, such as the Epicureans, have insisted that pleasure of the entire mind, not just pleasure of the senses, is this highest good.

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Other Word Forms

• hedonic adjective
• hedonist noun

Etymology

Origin of hedonism

First recorded in 1855–60; from Greek hēdonḗ “pleasure, enjoyment” + -ism

Example Sentences

But Mr. Styles’s voice, while expressive in certain contexts, is incapable of conveying hedonism, and “Aperture” ends up feeling blandly uplifting rather than transcendent.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026

Dyer says looking back is "awful" and that his days of "hedonism" and "mad behaviour" are over.

From BBC • May 10, 2025

The combination of adolescence’s slippery hedonism and the French Riviera’s languid air spurred the explosive popularity of Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel “Bonjour Tristesse,” written when the author was herself a teenager.

From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2025

After a breezy “Rock Your Body” and embracing 2000s club hedonism on “SexyBack,” a harnessed-up Timberlake returned for his “Mirrors” encore atop the LED vessel that carried him above the crowd.

From Seattle Times • May 3, 2024

Its swaths of deep brush and arable land made it great for farming but less appealing for honeymoons and hedonism.

From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore