hedonism

WOTD - 2 September 2006    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἡδονή (hēdonē, “pleasure”) + -ism. (Eng. usg. 1856)

Pronunciation

• enPR: hēdənĭzəm, IPA: /ˈhiːdənɪzəm/, SAMPA: /hi:d@nIz@m/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: he‧don‧ism

Noun

hedonism (usually uncountable; plural hedonisms)

1. (ethics) The belief that pleasure or happiness is the highest good in life. Some hedonists, such as the Epicureans, have insisted that pleasure of the entire mind, not just pleasure of the senses, is the highest good.
2. A general devotion to the pursuit of pleasure.

Antonyms

• asceticism

Related terms

• hedonic
• hedonics
• hedonist
• hedonistic
• hedonistically

Translations

philosophy

Arabic: مذهب اللذّة (ar) (madhhab al-lidhdha) Croatian: hedonizam (hr) m. Czech: hédonismus (cs) m., hedonismus (cs) m. Danish: hedonisme (da) c. Dutch: hedonisme (nl) n., genotzucht (nl) f. and m., epicurisme (nl) n. Esperanto: hedonismo (eo) French: hédonisme m. German: Hedonismus (de) m. Hebrew: הֶדוֹנִיזְם (hedonism) m.

Italian: edonismo (it) m. Japanese: 快楽主義（かいらくしゅぎ, kairaku shugi） Kurdish: zewqyarî (ku) f., hedonîzm (ku) f. Polish: hedonizm m Romanian: hedonism (ro) n. Russian: гедонизм (ru) m. Spanish: hedonismo (es) m. Swedish: hedonism (sv) c. Turkish: hedonizm, hazcılık

External links

• hedonism in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• hedonism at OneLook Dictionary Search