Power Suffixes for Eleventh Grade Students: -ism

The suffix ism is added to words to mean "the process or action of" or "the system, principle, or theory of." We're sure you'll learn these -ism words with optimism!
12 words 50 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. egoism
    concern for your own interests and welfare
    Among the novel’s most famous lines: “Each man for himself, in that desert of egoism which is called life.” Washington Post (Jul 29, 2017)
  2. paganism
    a religion outside of mainstream monotheism
    In conservative Twin Falls, many who follow paganism, a religion whose modern movement includes a variety of practices including nature worship, aren’t open about their beliefs. Washington Times (Feb 25, 2017)
  3. altruism
    the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others
    Their discovery: when people are given a small stipend for donating blood rather than simply being praised for their altruism, they tend to donate less blood. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
  4. syllogism
    reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
    She knows her way around a syllogism, but she also knows that persuasion is not reducible to reason—that the best arguments, on their own, do not always win. The New Yorker (Nov 20, 2018)
  5. theism
    the doctrine or belief in the existence of a God or gods
    As an alternative to theism, these groups proffer humanism — a belief in the power of humanity and the human spirit, without supernatural intervention. Washington Post (Mar 30, 2017)
  6. aphorism
    a short pithy instructive saying
    Twitter, in its imposed brevity, seems to affirm the aphorism’s original meaning: be intelligently succinct! The New Yorker (Jul 15, 2019)
  7. plagiarism
    taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own
    The law defines research misconduct as fabrication, falsification or plagiarism. Nature (Jul 8, 2019)
  8. opportunism
    taking advantage of favorable circumstances selfishly
    It was brazen opportunism, a naked power grab: privately, I’m told, her team wanted the precious “bauble” of going down in history as the gravediggers of the British Labour party. The Guardian (Jun 9, 2017)
  9. pragmatism
    the attribute of accepting the facts of life
    That was an age old philosophical argument about pragmatism versus daring to dream. The Guardian (Aug 1, 2019)
  10. euphemism
    an inoffensive expression substituted for an offensive one
    It’s an ongoing legacy of cowardly language, where we use euphemisms until they lose their meaning. The Guardian (Aug 14, 2019)
  11. polytheism
    belief in multiple gods
    He dismissed Egypt’s polytheism and introduced worship that focused solely on the Aten, the disk of the sun – something considered heresy at the time. The Guardian (Aug 15, 2015)
  12. romanticism
    impractical ideals and attitudes
    Though there is a degree of rural romanticism, it often focuses on a fictional, idealized view of rural America. Washington Post (Jun 14, 2019)
Created on Fri Jun 06 12:27:13 EDT 2025

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