noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The religion or philosophy derived from the teachings of Gautama Buddha. uncountable, usually
2. 2
   the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth wordnet
3. 3
   a religion represented by the many groups (especially in Asia) that profess various forms of the Buddhist doctrine and that venerate Buddha wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

religionsect

Example

More examples

"What he thought was bound up with Buddhism."

Etymology

From Buddha + -ism.

Related phrases

Hinayana BuddhismMahayana BuddhismPure Land BuddhismTantric BuddhismTheravada BuddhismVajrayana BuddhismWon BuddhismZen Buddhism

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.