healthism

H4E1A1L1T1H4I1S1M3

noun

The use of propaganda and coercion (as by government or advertising) to impose established norms of health.

Scrabble 17
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Meanings

nounhealthism (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe use of propaganda and coercion (as by government or advertising) to impose established norms of health.
  2. derogatoryuncommonuncountableAn excessive preoccupation with one's health.

    The locals are not much restrained by the old puritanical or Protestant code. Instead, they have constructed their own ethos of environmentalism, healthism, and egalitarianism that makes it bad form to spend money lavishly or live ostentatiously.

    1997 September 15, David Brooks, “The Rise of the Latte Town”, in Washington Examiner
  3. derogatoryuncommonuncountableDiscrimination on the basis of one's health status.

Origin

From health + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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