What does "fundamentalism" mean?
The tendency to reduce a religion to its most fundamental tenets, based on strict interpretation of core texts.
Fundamentalism
/ˌfʌndəˈmentəlɪzəm/ noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The tendency to reduce a religion to its most fundamental tenets, based on strict interpretation of core texts.
- Grammar: fundamentalism is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: bibliolatry, bigotry, creedalism, discipline.
- Useful contrasts: flexibility, liberalism, modernism.
- Usage evidence: Poe's Law is an axiom suggesting that it's difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between parodies of religious or other fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane.
How to use "fundamentalism"
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Source and review context
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 The tendency to reduce a religion to its most fundamental tenets, based on strict interpretation of core texts. countable, uncountable
- 2 the strict adherence to the basic principles or doctrines of a religion, ideology, etc. wordnet
- 3 A rigid conformity to any set of basic tenets. broadly, countable, uncountable
"Recent books by philosopher Roger Scruton (1999, 2000) and music educator Robert Walker (2007) may be interpreted as a last desperate gasp of this form of musical fundamentalism or neoconservativism—the kind that tells the masses what is "good for them" on the grounds that they lack adequate bases for judgments on their own […]"
- 4 a form of Protestantism that takes the interpretation of every word in the sacred texts as literal truth wordnet
- 5 The belief that fundamental financial quantities are the best predictor of the price of a financial instrument. countable, uncountable
Show 1 more definition
- 6 A Christian movement that started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and American Protestants, which emphasizes literal interpretation of the Bible, and came up as a reaction to liberal theology and cultural modernism countable, uncountable
Antonyms
Example
"Poe's Law is an axiom suggesting that it's difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between parodies of religious or other fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "fundamentalism"?
Common synonyms include: bibliolatry, bigotry, creedalism, discipline, dogmatism, dogmatism.
How do you use "fundamentalism" in a sentence?
Poe's Law is an axiom suggesting that it's difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between parodies of religious or other fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they both seem equally insane.
How do you pronounce "fundamentalism"?
Pronounced /ˌfʌndəˈmentəlɪzəm/.
Etymology
From fundamental + -ism. First used in the 1910s by American Christians.