anarchism

Etymology

It is formed from English anarchy + -ism in the view of Etymonline, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com,^[2][3][4] while the revised OED derives it from Ancient Greek ἄναρχος (ánarkhos, “without a chief or head”) with the suffix -ism,^[5][6] and the Shorter Oxford takes its early use as formed from anarch.^[7] Anarchy came through French anarchie and Medieval Latin anarchia from Ancient Greek ἀναρχία (anarkhía, “lack of a leader”),^[2][8][9] itself from the adjective meaning "rulerless", formed from ἀν- (an-, “without”) and ἀρχός (arkhós, “leader, ruler”).^[2][10][8] The OED compares German Anarchismus, recorded from 1802, and French anarchisme, recorded in 1834 for the absence of a ruling authority and in 1917 for disorder;^[5] the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English say that the later use of the English word followed the French one.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Disorder that results when government or authority is absent or ignored; chaos: 1642, in E. Dering's Collection of Speeches on Religion.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates the word to 1642, but for the political theory,^[3] and Etymonline dates it to the 1640s as a political doctrine.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The OED's first sense, disorder or chaos arising from a lack of government, and the encouraging of it, is recorded from 1642.^[5] From 1656, in Blount's Glossographia, the word also named the condition of having no absolute ruler and the advocacy of it, and this later became the name of a political doctrine and movement, often written with a capital.^[5] In that sense the English word was later influenced by anarchisme.^[7][6] Modern dictionaries define it as a theory that all government is unnecessary and undesirable and that society should rest on voluntary cooperation and free association,^[3][11][12] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged sends its readers to compare nihilism.^[3] The American Heritage Dictionary also records the sense of active resistance and terrorism against the state, as practised by some anarchists.^[12]

Timeline

• 1642 – disorder resulting from the absence of government; chaos.^[5]
• 1656 – the condition of having no absolute ruler, and the advocacy of it; later, a political doctrine opposed to all government.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A political theory holding that all forms of government are unnecessary and harmful, and that society should be organised by voluntary cooperation and free association: She wrote her thesis on nineteenth-century anarchism.^{[3][11][13][12]}
2. The advocacy or practice of anarchist principles.^[3][11][13]
3. Active resistance to the state, including terrorism, as practised by some anarchists.^[12]
4. Disorder arising from the absence or disregard of authority; chaos.^[5]

Word family

• anarchistic
• anarchist

Related words

• anarchy
• anarch
• -arch
• monarchy

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins