nationalism
Nationalism is an ideology and political attitude that puts the nation and its interests at the centre of public life.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- In political use: a doctrine that treats the nation as the basic political community and holds that the state should protect that nation's interests, culture and independence against other nations and outside powers.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In social use: a strong attachment to one's own nation, its language, history and symbols, shown as civic loyalty or as a programme to build or defend a nation-state.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In critical or pejorative use: an attitude that ranks one's own nation above others, restricts minority rights, or seeks to assimilate culturally different groups inside the state.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Examples
- The nineteenth-century history textbook links nationalism with the rise of nation-states in Europe.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The author separates civic nationalism, based on rights and a constitution, from ethnic nationalism, based on shared descent.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In public debate nationalism is often set against internationalism and cosmopolitanism.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - His nationalism went no further than pride in the mother tongue and opposition to outside political domination.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Usage
Speakers use nationalism for a party platform, a school of political thought, or a quick charge against someone. When you write about history or politics, name the strand: independence struggle, civic model built on equal citizenship, ethnic model built on shared descent, or a critical tag for exclusion. Clear labels stop readers from treating every mention as praise or blame.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)The 1913 Webster already prints Nationalism with three glosses: national character and attachment; a trait or idiom of a people; and independence joined to the principles of nationalists. The same edition lists Nationalist, Nationality and Nationalize. Under NATION, Skeat (1910) traces Old French nation to Latin natio (race, nation) and natus (born), then notes national, nationality and nationalise. Those English facts also explain the Polish cognate nacjonalizm.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, open sourceFrequent pairings are civic nationalism, ethnic nationalism, rise of nationalism, critique of nationalism and nationalist movement. A supporter is a nationalist; the adjective is nationalist or, less often, nationalistic. News writing likes the contrast nationalism versus patriotism, where patriotism can mean loyalty without a claim of exclusivity over other nations.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)In the 1921 Arct foreign-word dictionary the Polish lemma Nacjonalizm (masculine) sits beside Nacjonalista, Nacjonalistyczny, Nacjonalizacja and Nacjonalny. That cluster proves the cognate was already current in interwar Polish and pointed to national exclusivity within the state. We treat Arct only as lexical evidence: we note that the lemma existed and rephrase the general idea in our own words, never as a copied gloss for this site.
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Editorial team; facts: M. Arct, Slownik wyrazow obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceWord forms
Regular English noun, usually uncountable; the plural nationalisms is used for different strands or national versions of the ideology.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| singular | nationalism |
| plural | nationalisms |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- civic nationalism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - ethnic nationalism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - rise of nationalism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - critique of nationalism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - nationalist movement
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Synonyms · Antonyms
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Etymology
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W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourcealso
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourcealso
M. Arct, Slownik wyrazow obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceRelated words
- nationalist , noun for a supporter; also adjective
- national , adjective in the same word family (Skeat, Webster)
- nationality , noun: national character or membership (Webster 1913)
- nationalize , verb: to make national (Webster 1913)
- patriotism , thematically related noun
Related entries
Questions and answers
What does nationalism mean?
The word covers doctrines and habits that treat the nation as the main political unit and that stress its interests, identity and sovereignty. Civic and ethnic varieties are often contrasted in research, while everyday speech may use the term as a harsh label for hostility to outsiders.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Where does the word nationalism come from?
It grows from Latin natio and natus by way of French and English nation. Skeat maps that family under NATION; Webster 1913 already prints Nationalism, Nationalist and Nationality as lemmas. The -ism ending marks the political and doctrinal sense inside the same stock.
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W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourceHow is nationalism different from patriotism?
Patriotism usually signals love of country and a will to protect it, and need not claim superiority over other peoples. Nationalism more often names a doctrine or organised current around the nation, sometimes with exclusivist demands. Writers still blur the pair, so context decides how sharp the contrast is.