different between nihility vs nihilism

English

Etymology

From Renaissance Latin nihilitas, from Latin nihil (“nothing”).

Noun

nihility (countable and uncountable, plural nihilities)

1. The state or fact of being nothing; nothingness, nullity; nonexistence. [from 17th c.]
   • 2000, Gregg Easterbrook, "Review: The Quest for Quarks," The Wilson Quarterly, vol. 24, no. 1, p. 110:

     Paeans and even poems have been written to the esoteric nature of the smallest building blocks of matter: how they manifest as everywhere and nowhere, seem to have come out of emptiness, and at the ultimate level seem to be distilled from pure nihility.

2. (obsolete, countable) A nonexistent thing; nothing. [18th–19th c.]
   • 1788, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Thraliana, 26 December:

     Della Crusca says all past Actions are Nihilities; & that the immediate Instant is the whole of human Existence—A bad Acc? of it surely!

Synonyms

• (nothingness): See also Thesaurus:inexistence

English

Etymology

Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus + English -ism (suffix forming the name of a school of thought, system, or theory); the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil (“indefinite nothing”), from nihilum (“nothing”), from ne- (prefix negating the principal meaning) + h?lum (“a trifle; not in the least”). The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian ????????? (nigilízm, “philosophical doctrine grounded on negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; emptiness; lack of education and cultural refinement”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?na?.(h)?.l?.z(?)m/, /?n?-/, /?ni?-/, [-(h)??-]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?na?.??l?.z(?)m/, /?ni-/
• Hyphenation: ni?hil?i?sm

Noun

nihilism (countable and uncountable, plural nihilisms)

1. (usually uncountable) The view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning.

   Synonym: existential nihilism
2. (usually uncountable) The rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, (inherent or objective) moral principles, legal rules, etc., often due to the view that life is meaningless (sense 1).

   Synonym: moral nihilism
3. (usually uncountable, politics) The rejection of non-proven or non-rationalized assertions in the social and political spheres of society.
4. (uncountable, psychiatry) A delusion that oneself or the world, or parts thereof, have ceased to exist.
5. (uncountable, Russia, politics, historical) Alternative letter-case form of Nihilism (“a Russian movement of the 1860s that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change”)
6. (countable, uncountable, philosophy) A doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists.

   Antonym: antinihilism
7. (countable) Something that is regarded as meaningless.

Derived terms

• antinihilism
• existential nihilism
• moral nihilism

Related terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• nihilism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• nihilism in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• nihilism in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Romanian

Etymology

From French nihilisme

Noun

nihilism n (uncountable)

1. nihilism

Declension