allegorism

A1L1L1E1G2O1R1I1S1M3

noun

The use of allegory.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounallegorism (usually uncountable, plural allegorisms)

plural allegorisms

  1. uncountableusuallyThe use of allegory.

    These two tendencies correspond, mutatis mutandis, with the development of symbolism and allegorism in twentieth-century literature.

    1999, Tullio Pagano, Experimental Fictions, page 149
    3 more examples

    Schmidt makes a rather surprising statement when he ventures to assert that in general S. Irenaeus avoids allegorism, that when he uses it the exegesis is mostly typology, and that allegoristic passages are not for him determinative for faith.

    2001, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, page 255

    Jordan Bartel of the Chicago Tribune named the chapter a timeless and saw a feasible Emmy recommendation for Vincent Kartheiser, however sensed the kitchenette sink allegorism and finishing voiceover was a itty-bitty heavyhanded.

    2014, Doris Medina, Mad Men 252, →ISBN

    He prefers a figural “attitude” to the pagan and primitive allegorisms and symbolisms, flags and emblems, which in his mind owe their strength and modern, global popularity to the powerful sense of history that the girual though had developed.

    2018, E. Khayyat, Istanbul 1940 and Global Modernity
  2. uncountableusuallylifestyleThe belief that the primary value and significance of what is earthly and tangible is the way it points to the divine.

    The issue of the merits or demerits of allegorism became pronounced at the close of the 13th century and was keenly contested in the polemical literature of the second Maimonidean controversy.

    2007, Fred Skolnik, Michael Berenbaum, Encyclopaedia Judaica - Volume 3, page 645
    1 more example

    He goes so far as to affirm that in Scripture 'all has a spiritual meaning, but not everything has a literal meaning' (De princ. 2,3,5). We have here the point of departure for all the exaggerations of medieval allegorism.

    2000, Henri de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis Vol 2: The Four Senses Of Scripture, page 277

Origin

Translations

Polish alegoryzm
  • alegoryzmTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

allegorism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/allegorism

MLA

“allegorism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/allegorism. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “allegorism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/allegorism.

Source: allegorism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.