Deafism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A stereotypy characteristic of deaf people. countable, uncountable
"In other words, to analyze and fully understand "deafisms" is a problem of considerable complexity and consequence. For a decade we have been studying this language phenomenon through analyzing the written language of the deaf in comparison with those who have other types of language disorders and with the normal."
- 2 Prejudice against deaf people. uncountable
"The best place to fight Hollywood deafism is in our deaf schools. If we give our children understanding and appreciation of our rich culture and sign language, the students will gain a deaf heritage and become more creative, more aware, and more assertive global deaf citizens."
Example
More examples"In other words, to analyze and fully understand "deafisms" is a problem of considerable complexity and consequence. For a decade we have been studying this language phenomenon through analyzing the written language of the deaf in comparison with those who have other types of language disorders and with the normal."
Etymology
From deaf + -ism.
More for "deafism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.