zeroism

Z10E1R1O1I1S1M3

noun

A belief that the physical world is illusion.

Scrabble 18
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Meanings

nounzeroism (uncountable)
  1. uncountableBuddhismA belief that the physical world is illusion.

    Zeroism is distinct from nihilism. It is a true central philosophy because it is neither Absolutism nor nihilism.

    1964, Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar, Summaries of papers; supplement, page 190
    2 more examples

    The conception of Emptiness in Taoist Mysticism of China was influenced by the conception of Vedic representation of Sanya (zero) and Buddhist conception of Sinyāta (zeroism) of India.

    1984, Prācī-jyoti: Digest of Indological Studies - Volumes 16-17, page 244

    Gandhi set a high ideal, which actually does not attract much interest in The whole idea of "zeroism"--"to be the last in the peace research community.

    1986, International peace research newsletter - Volumes 24-27, page 10
  2. uncountableA refusal to act or take a stance; extreme passivity.

    ...their rhetoric fashions immigrants' identities out of victimhood, zeroism, and self-destruction.

    2009, Madelaine Hron, Translating Pain: Immigrant Suffering in Literature and Culture, →ISBN, page 128
    3 more examples

    Until my recent experience, I had no just conception of the political zeroism of the French Chamber of Peers.

    1838, Isaac Appleton Jewett, Passages in Foreign Travel - Volume 2, page 66

    To advocate anything except zeroism, neutralism, fatalism, middle-of-the-roadism, golden-meanism, is to become biased, doctrinaire, dogmatic, unscientific.

    1954, Restoring Our American Heritage

    The battlefield would be devoid of fighters . War is always bracketed with heroism . Yet war does not yield any positive results . Peace appears to be zeroism , but all the best achievements are inevitably arrived at by peaceful means .

    2005, Vaḥīduddīn K̲h̲ān̲, Simple Wisdom, page 309
  3. uncountableAny of various artistic movements in which the artist refused to write works with any message or higher meaning.

    going to write book on zero culture/ the amount of zeroness in the modern novel/or de developement of zeroism in poetry/or zero play/& how zeros went to puerto rico &

    1970, Adam David Miller, Dices or Black bones; Black voices of the seventies, page 37
    2 more examples

    It distantly resembled human beings, but for pure, unadulterated zeroism—well, as it was the Record picture, you might be moved to remark that the Photographer was representing the soul.

    1917, The Yale Literary Magazine - Volume 83, page 429

    If so — and the evidence that Thurman Arnold offers in Symbols of Government and The Folklore of Capitalism is as sobering as it is convincing — then many will go right on accusing Hemingway of being head shaman of a cult of hard-boiled primitivism and zeroism .

    1996, Albert Murray, The Blue Devils of Nada: A Contemporary American Approach to Aesthetic Statement

Origin

From zero + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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