animism

English

Etymology

anima + -ism, from Latin anima (life", "breath", "soul). Dated sense from German Animismus, coined c. 1720 by physicist/chemist Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) See anima mundi.

Noun

animism (countable and uncountable, plural animisms)

  1. A belief that spirits inhabit some or all classes of natural objects or phenomena.
  2. A belief that an immaterial force animates the universe.
  3. (dated) A doctrine that animal life is produced by an immaterial spirit.

Coordinate terms

Translations

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See also

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