individualism
in·di·vi·dualism
noun
1.
the quality of being individual
- “so absorbed by the movement that she lost all sense of individuality”
2.
a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence
3.
the doctrine that government should not interfere in commercial affairs
Origin
Borrowed from French individualisme, equivalent to individual + -ism.
Phrases
- rugged individualism
Related words
Word family
Narrower terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.