mandarinism

M3A1N1D2A1R1I1N1I1S1M3

noun

A government of mandarins; character or spirit of the mandarins.

Scrabble 16
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Meanings

nounmandarinism (countable and uncountable, plural mandarinisms)

plural mandarinisms

  1. countableuncountableA government of mandarins; character or spirit of the mandarins.

    It seems to me that it is these very governments of centralized mandarinism that play at providence, in which they closely resemble the communists, as indeed all absolutism contains a strong element of communism.

    1853, Francis Lieber, On Civil Liberty and Self-government

Origin

From mandarin + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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