analogism

A1N1A1L1O1G2I1S1M3

noun

An argument from cause to effect; an a priori argument.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounanalogism (countable and uncountable, plural analogisms)

plural analogisms

  1. countableuncountablehuman sciencesAn argument from cause to effect; an a priori argument.

    all Judications and Analogisms may faile

    1657, Henry Pinnell, Oswald Croll, Philosophy Reformed & Improved in Four Profound Tractates
    2 more examples

    Epilogism as opposed to analogism proceeds from what is seen.

    2012, P. Nicolacopoulos, Greek Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, page 106

    The inclination toward simplified and/or distorted (but often useful) reasoning in the form of analogism and a propensity to organise events into teleological narratives to which causality is attributed, is of particular interest to this discussion.

    2017, Jacqueline Hill, Mary Ann Lyons, Representing Irish Religious Histories, page 105
  2. countableuncountableThe investigation of things by the analogy they bear to each other.

    Visible most obviously in the Metaphysical poets, analogism finds in humankind and all creation "the vestiges and signature of their creator" ( 61 ) .

    1999, Christianity & literature - Volume 49, page 260
    3 more examples

    As the analogism, to be perfect, requires equal extremes in evidence of an equal mean, it is principally applicable to intellectual science and universals, in which these perfect or necessary relations are principally found;

    1818, George Field, “The Third Organon Attempted; or Elements of Logic and Subjective Philosophy”, in The Pamphleteer, volumes 11-12, page 481

    We have an analogism when we draw the conclusion from 1. the fact that object A has properties p and q 2. and the observation that object B has the property p ---- 3. that object B also has property q. Hence, analogism is fundamentally an inference based on categorizations and it may be a relatively parsimonious way for people in ambiguous situations to make sense of what is going on and what to expect in the near future.

    2011, Peter Hedström, Peter Bearman, The Oxford Handbook of Analytical Sociology, page 81

    Analogism is a learning method of making comparison between the content of a course and those similar or identical to the content of the course, thus to establish a knowledge model to turn abstract to simple

    2011, Min Zhu, Information and Management Engineering, page 108
  3. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe belief that grammar is not arbitrary, but follows rules and patterns.

    A large part of the modernization process consisted in lexicon building which relied on vocabulary creation using analogism and derivation from classical sources.

    2014, Lotfi Sayahi, Diglossia and Language Contact, page 23
    1 more example

    It was long thought that these books represented a genuine debate among Greek grammarians—normally thought to be Pergamene (anti-analogist) and Alexandrian (analogist)—and that a conflict between analogism and anomalism was a dominant feature of Roman grammatical thought in Varro's day.

    2018, James E.G. Zetzel, Critics, Compilers, and Commentators, page 42
  4. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe belief that the world consists of separate entities that follow certain rules or universal forces.

    Defining pantheism as an ontology alongside analogism, it may be noted, requires an emendation to Descola's four ontologies: naturalism, totemism, animism and analogism.

    2022, Olaf Almqvist, Chaos, Cosmos and Creation in Early Greek Theogonies
    1 more example

    Why the drive to reduce these multiple modes of identification, forms of participatory knowing, and/or ontologies to one? My animism is better than your naturalism, totemism, analogism, or whatever.

    2018, Zayin Cabot, Ecologies of Participation, page 146

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekἀναλογία
  2. Englishanalogism

From Ancient Greek ἀναλογία (analogía) (from ἀνά (aná) + λόγος (lógos, “speech, reckoning”)) + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Polish analogizm
  • analogizminvestigation of things by the analogy they bear to each other
Portuguese analogismo
  • analogismoinvestigation of things by the analogy they bear to each other
Cite this entry
APA

analogism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/analogism

MLA

“analogism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/analogism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “analogism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/analogism.

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