Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hylozoism

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: hy-lo-zo-ism
IPA

26

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The belief that all physical matter is alive in some sense.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Synonym of materialism, the belief that all life derives entirely from physical matter.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Hylozoism... makes all Body, as such, and therefore every smallest Atom of it, to have Life Essentially belonging to it."
"But we can answer authoritatively that to Cleanthes and Chrysippus, if not to Zeno, there was no real difference between matter and its cause, which is always a corporeal current, and therefore matter, although the finest and subtlest matter. In fact they have reached the final result of unveiled hylozoism, from which the distinction of the active and passive principles is discerned to be a merely formal concession to Aristotle, a legacy from his dualistic doctrine."
"[…] is it not melancholy to hear a man like Steffens somniloquise in such a mystifying cant of Hylozoism, of Pickism, a hodge-podge of the grossest materialism, and the most fantastic yet maudlin moonery?"

Etymology

From hylo- (“wood, matter”) + Ancient Greek ζωή (zōḗ, “life”) + -ism.

Origin

Source language: Ancient Greek

Word Breakdown

Prefix: hylo
Root: ζωή
Suffix: ism

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Religion.

Inflected Forms

hylozoisms (plural)

Phrases

hyle and Category:English terms prefixed with hylo-

Frequently Paired Words

hylozoic hylozoical hylozoist hylozoistic hylozoistically hyle and Category:English terms prefixed with hylo- animism pandeism

Synonyms

materialism panbiotism

Questions

What does hylozoism mean?: The belief that all physical matter is alive in some sense.
Where does hylozoism come from?: It is traced to Ancient Greek.

How to pronounce hylozoism

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