noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A musical style, prevalent in Europe in the mid-20th century, based around separate tones rather than overarching compositional structures. uncountable
2. 2
   The view that there is no ongoing individual person but rather a series of experiences. uncountable
3. 3
   The belief that evolution takes place in sudden jumps. uncountable

Antonyms

All antonyms

gradualism

Etymology

From punctual + -ism.

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