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localism

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 11 June 2026

Etymology

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Etymology tree
English local
Proto-Indo-European *-id-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti
Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)
Proto-Indo-European *-mos
Proto-Indo-European *-mós
Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)
Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der.
English -ism
English localism

    From local (adjective) + -ism (suffix forming names of tendencies of action, behaviour, condition, opinion, or state belonging to classes or groups of persons), originally modelled after French localisme.[1]

    Sense 3.2 (“approach to understanding linguistic expressions in terms of movement and position”) was coined by the British linguist John Lyons (1932–2020) in his book Semantics (1977).[2][3]

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    localism (countable and uncountable, plural localisms)

    1. (uncountable) Attachment to or preference for a particular local place, especially the place where one lives; hence, feelings, opinions, or policies which emphasize or focus on local phenomena; (countable) an instance of this.
      Coordinate terms: countyism, regionalism
      • 1798, [Augustin] Barruel, “Seventh Part of the Code of the Illuminées—Class of the Mysteries—Of the Lesser Mysteries; the Epopt or Priest of Illumination”, in [Robert Clifford], transl., Memoirs, Illustrating the History of Jacobinism, […], part III, volume III (The Antisocial Conspiracy), London: […] [F]or the author, by T[homas] Burton, […], and sold by E. Booker, […], →OCLC, page 181:
        [H]e vvas ſtyled a patriot vvho, juſt tovvard his countrymen, and unjuſt to others, vvas blind to the merits of ſtrangers, and believed the very vices of his ovvn country to be perfections.—In ſuch a case, vvhy not reſtrain that love vvithin a narrovver compaſs, to citizens living in the ſame tovvn, or to the members of one family; or vvhy even ſhould not each perſon have concentrated his affections in himſelf? VVe really beheld Patriotiſm, generating Localiſm, the confined ſpirit of families, and at length Egoiſm.
        Translating French localisme.
      • 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher’s shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 August 2025:
        [T]hese faux-traditional shops, harking back to an era of localism and pretty clockwork high streets, can help cleave a neighbourhood in two, making very clear the difference in means of those who live nearby.
      1. (politics) The policy or practice of giving more control and decision-making power to local authorities or residents, rather than to the central government; also, support for this.
        Synonym: localization
        Coordinate terms: autonomization, centralism, devolution, federalism, provincialism, regionalism, statism
        • 2010 July–August, “(please specify the article title)”, in The Economist, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27:
          Localism may strengthen not just the selfless (eg, people who want to build a village hall) but also the selfish (who want to stop any new building in their backyard).
    2. (countable) A thing which is characteristic of a particular local place.
    3. (linguistics)
      1. (countable) A linguistic feature such as a word or phrase that is unique to a locality.
        Coordinate terms: provincialism, regionalism
      3. (uncountable) An approach to understanding linguistic expressions in terms of movement and position (sometimes abstract; for example, one who is hungry is said to be in a notional "space" of hunger). [from 1977]
        • 1977, John Lyons, “Deixis, Space and Time”, in Semantics, volume 2, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 718:
          Stronger and weaker versions of localism can be distinguished according to the range of grammatical categories and constructions that are brought within its scope. At its weakest, the localist hypothesis is restricted to the incontrovertible fact that temporal expressions, in many unrelated languages, are patently derived from locative expressions. […] The spatialization of time is so obvious and so pervasive a phenomenon in the grammatical and lexical structure of so many of the world's languages that it has been frequently noted, even by scholars who would not think of themselves as subscribing to the hypothesis of localism.
        • 2006, Eva-Maria Graf, “Space, Body, and Interaction”, in The Ontogenetic Development of Literal and Metaphorical Space in Language (Language Development), Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg: Gunter Narr, →ISBN, →ISSN, introduction, footnote 3, page 6:
          Other theoretical approaches that stress the primacy of space or spatial meaning in language with respect to other domains or meanings are localism and case grammar. In localism, spatial expressions are considered the most important category in the lexicon and in grammar.
      4. (uncountable) The belief that language functions are localized to various parts of the brain.
    4. (medicine, historical, uncountable) The belief that fevers or diseases causing them originate from particular organs or parts of the body, or are due to conditions in a particular local place where patients live.
      • 1846, John Wilson, “Section VI”, in Medical Notes on China, London: John Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 135:
        Neither the morbid phenomena, nor the post-mortem appearances, in these cases, gave any support to the theory of localism, or the doctrine that teaches that there is no such disease as essential fever; that universally it is a symptomatic, not idiopathic affection; […]
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    Translations

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    References

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    1. ^ “localism, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2025; “localism, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
    2. ^ John Lyons (1977), “Deixis, Space and Time”, in Semantics, volume 2, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 1994, →ISBN, page 718: “The term localism is being used here to refer to the hypothesis that spatial expressions are more basic, grammatically and semantically, than various kinds of non-spatial expressions […].”
    3. ^ See Eva-Maria Graf (2006), “Space, Body, and Interaction”, in The Ontogenetic Development of Literal and Metaphorical Space in Language (Language Development), Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg: Gunter Narr, →ISBN, →ISSN, introduction, footnote 3, page 6.

    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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    Romanian

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    Etymology

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    From local +‎ -ism.

    Noun

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    localism n (uncountable)

    1. localism

    Declension

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    singular only indefinite definite
    nominative-accusative localism localismul
    genitive-dative localism localismului
    vocative localismule

    References

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    • localism in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN
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