Meanings
plural millenarianisms
- countableuncountableA belief in a coming religious millennium, especially (Christianity) the belief in a coming thousand-year reign of peace heralded by the Second Coming of Christ; utopianism, belief in a coming era of peace and prosperity.First known use 19th c.
It is hard to say for certain just why this brief but notable shift from passive to active millenarianism should have occurred during the Interregnum.
1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 1391 more example
When Herman Melvilled visited , he was fascinated yet repulsed by the 'contagion' of American Christian millenarianism – 'this preposterous Jewmania', he called it, 'half-melancholy, half-farcical'.
2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 406Synonyms: chiliasm
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA belief in a coming religious millennium, especially (Christianity) the belief in a coming thousand-year reign of peace heralded by the Second Coming of Christ; utopianism, belief in a coming era of peace and prosperity.
More synonyms by meaning
nounbelief in the Christian doctrine of the millennium mentioned in the Book of Revelations
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From millenarian + -ism. Compare millenarism, millennianism, millennialism.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
millenarianism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/millenarianism
“millenarianism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/millenarianism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “millenarianism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/millenarianism.
Source: millenarianism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.