aspheterism
/əsˈfɛtəˌɹɪz(ə)m/
aspheterism means the view that all property should be in common ownership and that no individual should benefit from private possession. It carries an Arena rating of 1213, earned across 36 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, aspheterism ranks #329 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,183 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,808 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #2,511 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
aspheterism is pronounced /əsˈfɛtəˌɹɪz(ə)m/.
Why “aspheterism” is a great word
ASPHETERISM — [Noun] The doctrine that all property should be held in common and that no individual should possess private property. From Ancient Greek ᾰ̓- (a-, alpha privative, meaning 'not') + σφέτερος (sphéteros, 'their own') + English -ism (denoting a system or principle), influenced by Greek σφετερισμός (spheterismós, 'usurpation'); coined in 1794 by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Unlike "communism," which envisions a comprehensive classless and stateless socio-political order, or "asceticism," a personal discipline of renunciation for spiritual ends, aspheterism is the stark, foundational principle that ownership itself is a usurpation. It is a world without fences, a library where every book bears only the ex libris of humankind, a coat passed from shoulder to shoulder with the changing seasons—a quiet, impossible hope that we might unlearn the very grammar of belonging.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ᾰ̓- (ă-, the alpha privative, a suffix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + σφέτερος (sphéteros, “theirs, their own”) (from σφεῖς (spheîs, “they; themselves”) + -τερος (-teros, suffix forming adjectives expressing some notion of contrast)) + -ism, influenced by σφετερισμός (spheterismós, “usurpation”). The word was coined by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) in a 1794 letter to fellow poet Robert Southey (1774–1843).
noun
- The view that all property should be in common ownership and that no individual should benefit from private possession.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.