Marxism

How to spell marxism

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce marxism

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does marxism mean?

1. nounThe political and economic theory derived from Karl Marx, holding that history is driven by class struggle and that capitalism will give way to a classless society.

Marxism in a sentence

• The lecturer compared marxism with classical liberal economics.

• His thesis traced the influence of marxism on twentieth-century labour movements.

Where does marxism come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word is an eponym, formed directly from the surname of the German philosopher and economist Karl Marx (1818 to 1883), with the suffix -ism added to mark a body of doctrine or system of thought. The suffix -ism itself reaches back through Latin -ismus to the Greek -ismos, an ending used to name beliefs, practices, and conditions. The term emerged in the later nineteenth century to describe the political and economic theory Marx developed with Friedrich Engels, centred on class struggle and the critique of capitalism. It entered English in the 1880s, roughly the decade after Marx's death, as his ideas spread among labour movements and intellectuals. A useful spelling note: the word keeps the silent personal-name spelling intact, so the awkward letter cluster -rxi- comes straight from the man Marx, and the suffix simply tacks -sm onto it.

How the word is built

• Marx (surname of Karl Marx)
• -ism (system of thought or doctrine)