Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

nihilism

UK /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪ.lɪz.m̩/ · US /ˈnaɪ.əˌlɪz.m̩/ noun, proper noun

Forms nihilisms

  1. noun (usually uncountable) The view that all endeavours are devoid of objective meaning.
  2. noun (usually uncountable) The rejection of, or opposition to, religious beliefs, (inherent or objective) moral principles, legal rules, etc., often due to the view that life is meaningless (sense 1).
  3. noun (usually uncountable, politics) The rejection of non-proven or non-rationalized assertions in the social and political spheres of society.
  4. noun (uncountable, psychiatry) A delusion that oneself or the world, or parts thereof, have ceased to exist.
  5. noun (countable, uncountable, philosophy) A doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists.
  6. noun (countable) Something that is regarded as meaningless.
  7. proper noun (Russia, politics, historical) A movement of the 1860s that rejected all authority and promoted the use of violence for political change.

Synonyms

existential nihilism moral nihilism nihilistic delusion

Antonyms

antinihilism

Etymology

Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus; the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil (“indefinite nothing”), from nihilum (“nothing”), from ne- (prefix negating the principal meaning) + hīlum (“a trifle; not in the least”). The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm), philosophical doctrine grounded on negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; emptiness; lack of education and cultural refinement.

Borrowed from Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm).

Webster’s 1913

  1. noun Nothingness; nihility.
  2. noun The doctrine that nothing can be known; scepticism as to all knowledge and all reality.

Etymology [L. nihil nothing: cf. F. nihilisme. See Annihilate.]

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “nihilism”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details