nihilist

See also: Nihilist

English

Etymology

From Latin nihil (“nothing”) + -ist.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪl.ɪst/, /ˈniː.ɪl.ɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪl.ɪst/, /ˈni.ɪl.ɪst/

Noun

nihilist (plural nihilists)

1. (philosophy, religion) A person who accepts or champions nihilism.
   • 2025 May 21, Manisha Krishnan, “IVF Clinic Bombing Suspect Was Linked to ‘Anti-Life’ Ideology. Experts Fear Its Growing Influence”, in WIRED‎^[1], archived from the original on 21 May 2025:

     “Promortalists recognize and seek to minimize suffering rather than embrace misanthropy and amorality,” Keneally says, noting that the writings attributed to Bartkus indicate he rejected the “sociopath[ic]” tendencies of nihilists” in a May 2025 forum post. […] According to the ISD report, the disorganized and ever-changing nature of nihilist ideologies makes it harder to understand and counter.

2. An absolute skeptic; a person who believes in the truth of nothing.

Derived terms

• antinihilist
• nihilistic

Translations

person who accepts nihilism

• Catalan: nihilista m or f
• Czech: nihilista m
• Dutch: nihilist (nl) m
• Esperanto: nihilisto
• Finnish: nihilisti (fi)
• French: nihiliste (fr)
• Galician: nihilista m or f
• German: Nihilist (de) m, Nihilistin (de) f
• Greek: μηδενιστής (el) m (midenistís)
• Hebrew: נִיהִילִיסְט m (nihilíst)
• Irish: nihilí m
• Italian: nichilista (it) m or f
• Manx: neunheeyseyr m
• Occitan: nihilista m or f
• Polish: nihilista (pl) m, nihilistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: niilista (pt) m or f
• Romanian: nihilist (ro) m
• Russian: нигили́ст (ru) m (nigilíst), нигили́стка (ru) f (nigilístka)
• Spanish: nihilista (es) m or f
• Swedish: nihilist (sv) c
• Yiddish: ניהיליסט m (nihilist), ניהיליסטין f (nihilistin)

absolute sceptic

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Tibetan: ^{(please verify)} མུར་ཐུག་པ (mur thug pa)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French nihiliste.

Noun

nihilist m (plural nihiliști)

1. nihilist

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	nihilist	nihilistul		nihiliști	nihiliștii
genitive-dative	nihilist	nihilistului		nihiliști	nihiliștilor
vocative	nihilistule			nihiliștilor

Related terms

• nihilism

Further reading

• “nihilist”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• nihìlista (Bosnia, Serbia)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nixǐlist/
• Hyphenation: ni‧hi‧list

Noun

nihìlist m anim (Cyrillic spelling нихѝлист)

1. (Croatia) nihilist

Declension

Declension of nihilist

	singular	plural
nominative	nihilist	nihilisti
genitive	nihilista	nihilista
dative	nihilistu	nihilistima
accusative	nihilista	nihiliste
vocative	nihiliste	nihilisti
locative	nihilistu	nihilistima
instrumental	nihilistom	nihilistima

Swedish

Etymology

Latin nihil +‎ -ist

Noun

nihilist c

1. nihilist

Declension

Declension of nihilist

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	nihilist	nihilists
	definite	nihilisten	nihilistens
plural	indefinite	nihilister	nihilisters
	definite	nihilisterna	nihilisternas

Derived terms

• nihilistisk

Related terms

• nihilism

References

• nihilist in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• nihilist in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• nihilist in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)