Monism

//ˈmɒnɪzəm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The doctrine of the oneness and unity of reality, despite the appearance of diversity in the world. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    the doctrine that reality consists of a single basic substance or element wordnet
  3. 3
    The doctrine that there is a single source of political authority, especially that the church is subordinate to the state or vice versa. countable, historical, uncountable

    "The same conflict between the monism of temporal theorists and the dualism of ecclesiastical thinkers—the same opposition of organic to symbiotic union—occurred in the ninth century."

  4. 4
    The legal doctrine that international law forms part of domestic law automatically after ratification or accession. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
atomismhomogeneityintegritymechanismone-thingismoneness

Example

More examples

"The same conflict between the monism of temporal theorists and the dualism of ecclesiastical thinkers—the same opposition of organic to symbiotic union—occurred in the ninth century."

Etymology

The word was coined by German philosopher Baron Christian von Wolff and first used in English in 1862, from New Latin monismus, from Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “alone”). By surface analysis, mon- + -ism.

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