privatism

P3R1I1V4A1T1I1S1M3

noun

Concern with issues only insofar as they affect one as an individual; self-interest.

First used 20th c.Scrabble 16
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Meanings

nounprivatism (countable and uncountable, plural privatisms)

plural privatisms

  1. countableuncountableConcern with issues only insofar as they affect one as an individual; self-interest.First known use 20th c.

    Jane Austen's Emma (1816) illustrates the social novel's association of androgyny with selfish privatism.

    1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 441
    1 more example

    What Habermas describes as ‘family-vocational privatism’, which is similar to what Williams (1983) recognizes as ‘mobile privatism’, can be considered in terms of a category of ‘self-seeking privatism’ (Lodziak, 1996), which is pursued by those for whom capitalism ‘pays off’ in terms of status, financial rewards and so on […]

    2008, Richard Ronald, The Ideology of Home Ownership […] , Springer, →ISBN, page 66

Origin

From private + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish privatismi
  • privatismiTranslations
German Privatismus
  • PrivatismusTranslations

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

vampirist
Cite this entry
APA

privatism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/privatism

MLA

“privatism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/privatism. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “privatism,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/privatism.

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