Meanings
- derogatoryobsoleteuncountableSynonym of secularism: subservience of religious issues to political officials and expediency.
Religion turned into Statisme, will soone prooue Atheisme.
1609, William Barlow, An Answer to a Catholike English-man, page 370Synonyms: secularism
- obsoleteuncountableSynonym of statecraft or statesmanship.
My great Cousin hauing euermore From my greene yeares accepted my aduise In points of statisme...
1608, J. F. Le Petit, translated by Edward Grimeston, General History of the Netherlands, page 1113Synonyms: statecraft or statesmanship
- archaicuncountableSynonym of government or governance.
[The Ten Commandments] have formed the basis of every system of statism adopted by the civilized communities of the earth.
1839, John Hobart Caunter, Poetry of the Pentateuch, page 189Synonyms: government or governance
- derogatoryoftenuncountablepolitical philosophyThe belief that most or all political power should be centralized in national governments.
Near-synonyms: big government, dirigisme
4 more examples
Bismarck... believes in State insurance in State activities, in place of individual action. But this is not Socialism. It is Statism.
1890, W.D.P. Bliss, What is Christian Socialism?, page 21Republican Senator Charles L. McNary concluded his Vice-Presidential campaign tonight with the charge the New Deal is ‘taking deeper and deeper refuge in paternalism and statism’.
1940 November 5, The Sun, Baltimore, p. 5As the economic derivative of libertarianism, laissez-faire capitalism is an economics of life, of rationality. […] And, like libertarianism, it is the only viable solution to the catastrophe of statism in the modern age.
1971 January 10, Stan Lehr, Louis Rossetto, “The New Right Credo–Libertarianism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN[…]; social welfare policies reward parasitical living rather than risk-taking; a truly atavistic, sick attachment to the compulsion and non-meritocratic elitism of statism as a way of life; […] have all retarded and will continue to retard Europeans.
1996, Louis Rossetto, “19th Century Nostrums are not Solutions to 21st Century Problems”, in Mute, volume 1, number 4, →ISSNSynonyms: etatism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, big government, dirigisme
- derogatoryoftenuncountablepolitical philosophyThe belief that most or nearly all political power should be decentralized to provincial governments.
To him... we owe that sentiment of nationalism prevailing over statism... without which the Union would have parted.
1875, A.H. Bullock, Intellectual Leadership Illustrated in American History, page 371 more example
The joint note of Austria and Prussia... appears thus to have worked more good than moderation and good sense generally achieve over faction and petty-Statism.
1854 July 1, The Times, London, p. 9Synonyms: regionalism, federalism, provincialism
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of secularism: subservience of religious issues to political officials and expediency.
nounSynonym of statecraft or statesmanship.
nounSynonym of government or governance.
nounThe belief that most or all political power should be centralized in national governments.
nounThe belief that most or nearly all political power should be decentralized to provincial governments.
nounThe belief that the state is a legitimate social institution.
Origin
From stat(e) + -ism. Doublet of etatism. First attested in c. 1600.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian държавен контрол
- държавен контрол (dăržaven kontrol)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Catalan estatisme
- estatismebelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Chinese Cantonese 國家主義 /国家主义
- 國家主義 /国家主义 (gwok³ gaa¹ zyu² ji⁶)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Chinese Mandarin 國家主義 /国家主义
- 國家主義 /国家主义 (guójiā zhǔyì)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Czech etatismus
- etatismusbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Dutch etatisme
- etatismebelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Finnish valtiojohtoisuus, etatismi
- valtiojohtoisuusbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
- etatismibelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
- statismibelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
French étatisme
- étatismebelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
German Etatismus
- Etatismusbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Hungarian etatizmus, állampártiság
- etatizmusbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
- állampártiságbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Italian statalismo
- statalismobelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Japanese 国家主義
- 国家主義 (kokkashugi)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Korean 국가주의
- 국가주의 (gukgajuui)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Polish etatyzm
- etatyzmbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Portuguese estatismo, estadismo
- estatismobelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
- estadismobelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Romanian statalism
- statalismbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Russian этати́зм, госуда́рственничество
- этати́зм (etatízm)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
- госуда́рственничество (gosudárstvenničestvo)belief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Spanish estatalismo, estatismo
- estatalismobelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
- estatismobelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Swedish etatism
- etatismbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Turkish devletçilik
- devletçilikbelief in the supreme legitimacy of the state
Cite this entry
statism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/statism
“statism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/statism. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “statism,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/statism.
Source: statism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.