Stoicism

//ˈstoʊɪsɪzəm// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A school of philosophy popularized during the Roman Empire that emphasized reason as a means of understanding the natural state of things, or logos, and as a means of freeing oneself from emotional distress. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    an indifference to pleasure or pain wordnet
  3. 3
    A real or pretended indifference to pleasure or pain; insensibility; impassiveness. countable, uncountable

    "Jones’ sad eyes betray a pervasive pain his purposefully spare dialogue only hints at, while the perfectly cast Brolin conveys hints of playfulness and warmth while staying true to the craggy stoicism at the character’s core."

  4. 4
    (philosophy) the philosophical system of the Stoics following the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abstainmentabstemiousnessabstentionabstinenceacceptancealtruistic ethics

Example

More examples

"There's more to Stoicism than Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus."

Etymology

From Latin stōicismus. By surface analysis, stoic + -ism. First attested in the 1620s.

Related phrases

roman empire

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