1.Philosophya. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence. b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. 2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief. 3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement. 4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination. 5.Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.
ETYMOLOGY:
Latin nihil, nothing; see ne in Appendix I + –ism.
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