spiritualism

CEFRB2

/ˈspɪɹɪtjuəlɪzəm/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Belief that the spirits of the dead can communicate with people.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A belief that the dead communicate with the living, especially through a medium. Used in a broader sense than spiritism.

Examples

  • Philosophically spiritualism shows a strong tendency to develop into either panpsychism or transcendentalism.

  • Why do so many people talk about Spiritualism without really knowing about it?

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Also pronounced

  • /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃəlɪzəm/
  • /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəlɪzəm/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The quality or state of being spiritual.

  2. A doctrine, opposing materialism, that claims transcendency of the divine being, the altogether spiritual character of reality and the value of inwardness of consciousness.

More examples

In context

  • What is called spiritualism should, I think, be called a mental species of materialism.

  • I wish it were possible to impress this truth upon people who rush into spiritualism from curiosity, or who try "table rapping" or some similar phenomenon "for fun".

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The medium claimed to practice blank and communicate with ghosts during séances.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From spiritual + -ism. In Allan Kardec's book The Spirits Book (1857) (Le Livre des Esprits in the original French), in which a distinction between spiritism and spiritualism is defined.