individualism
noun
Simple meaning
A belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihndihvihdoouhlihzuhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪndɪvɪˈduəlɪzəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence
The moral stance, political philosophy, or social outlook that promotes independence and self-reliance of individual people, while opposing the interference with each person's choices by society, the state, or any other group or institution.
philosophy
The doctrine that nothing exists but the individual self.
The tendency for a person to act without reference to others, particularly in matters of style, fashion or mode of thought.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence
Used this way, individualism is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
The quality of being individual.
Apart from others.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Individualism in social and economic affairs.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.