egalitarianism

noun egal·i·tar·i·an·ism \ i-ˌga-lə-ˈter-ē-ə-ˌni-zəm \

|Updated on: 3 Jun 2018

Editor's Note: The Roots of egalitarianism

Definition of egalitarianism

1 : a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs

2 : a social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people

Recent Examples of egalitarianism from the Web

There is an intellectual dark web, in the sense that conservatives have constructed alternative institutions and economic theories and thought leaders to fight egalitarianism.

— sarah jones, The New Republic, "Grifters All the Way Down," 31 May 2018
Time was when sneers and jeers would greet such oenological egalitarianism.

— tim smith, baltimoresun.com, "Pairings Bistro in Bel Air delivers imaginative food and wine," 21 May 2018
The most humanitarian sign of the zodiac, Aquarians are fueled by justice and egalitarianism.

— aliza kelly faragher, Allure, "How Each Zodiac Sign Is Most Likely to Cheat in a Relationship," 30 Apr. 2018
The Kardashians’ arrival inevitably signals a messy American egalitarianism, which may be the only good thing about them.

— alexander nazaryan, Newsweek, "The Kardashians Killed the Hamptons," 3 July 2014
Though the characters played by Mr. Boston and Mr. Calvitto are more the alpha dogs, all of the actors demonstrate a crack sense of ensemble egalitarianism (Mr. Calvitto directed).

— andy webster, New York Times, "Review: Comically Currying the Boss’s Favor in ‘Enterprise’," 14 Sep. 2017
If multicultural egalitarianism is the future of liberal politics, the road to the future will be bumpy.

— derek thompson, The Atlantic, "The Doom Loop of Modern Liberalism," 24 Oct. 2017
In his theological works, Luther introduced a radical egalitarianism that helped lay the foundation for modern democracy and human rights.

— joseph loconte, WSJ, "How Martin Luther Advanced Freedom," 26 Oct. 2017
But an unavoidable lesson of the last few years, from both inside and outside the U.S., is that cultural heterogeneity and egalitarianism often cut against each other.

— derek thompson, The Atlantic, "The Doom Loop of Modern Liberalism," 24 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'egalitarianism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Roots of egalitarianism

Egalitarianism comes to the English language from the French. We fashioned egalitarian from their égalitaire “egalitarian” (which comes from the Latin aequalitas “equality”), and then added our -ism to it. The word first appeared in English in the late 19th century; our current earliest citation is from 1874, in The Times of India: “Before the Revolution the officers of one regiment welcomed brother corps with champagne suppers, but egalitarianism has brought us down to punch at five francs the bowl. . . ." The word has seen a subtle shift in meaning. Its earliest use was typically in reference to a belief in human equality; it has since taken on the sense “a social philosophy that advocates the removal of inequality among people.”