noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The belief that the world is inherently evil. uncountable

   "Jowett's optimism verges on pessimism, or, let us say, his bonism verges on malism."

Synonyms

All synonyms

cynicismgloominessnegativismnihilismpessimism

Antonyms

All antonyms

bonism

Example

More examples

"Jowett's optimism verges on pessimism, or, let us say, his bonism verges on malism."

Etymology

From mal- + -ism.

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