humanism
/ˈhjumənɪz(ə)m/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.99 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The study of the humanities or the liberal arts; literary (especially classical) scholarship.
Uncountable
noun
Specifically, a cultural and intellectual movement in 14th-16th century Europe characterised by attention to classical culture and a promotion of vernacular texts, notably during the Renaissance.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The distrust of specialization within the domain of humanism, which even today makes itself felt in Italian culture and the Italian university system, was enhanced in the nineteenth century by the Hegelian tendency to think in global terms and relate every specific problem to some large, panoramic vision of history."
- "There were good reasons for humanism and the Renaissance to take their origins from fourteenth-century Italy."
- "The idea of a universal human nature brings us to a third theme, humanism. The thinkers of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment saw an urgent need for a secular foundation for morality, because they were haunted by a historical memory of centuries of religious carnage: the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, the European wars of religion. They laid that foundation in what we now call humanism, which privileges the well-being of individual men, women, and children over the glory of the tribe, race, nation, or religion. It is individuals, not groups, who are sentient—who feel pleasure and pain, fulfillment and anguish. Whether it is framed as the goal of providing the greatest happiness for the greatest number or as a categorical imperative to treat people as ends rather than means, it was the universal capacity of a person to suffer and flourish, they said, that called on our moral concern."
- "Near-synonyms: solidarity, philanthropy, generosity"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈhjumənɪz(ə)m/
- British English: /ˈhjuːmənɪz(ə)m/