localism

[ loh-kuh-liz-uhm ]
See synonyms for localism on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a word, phrase, pronunciation, or manner of speaking that is peculiar to one locality.

  2. a local custom.

  1. excessive devotion to and promotion of the interests of a particular locality; sectionalism.

  2. attachment to a particular locality.

Origin of localism

1
First recorded in 1815–25; local + -ism

Other words from localism

  • lo·cal·ist, noun
  • lo·cal·is·tic, adjective

Words Nearby localism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use localism in a sentence

  • As New England township life grew up around the church, so western localism finds its nucleus in the school system.

    The Farmer and His Community | Dwight Sanderson
  • Before you began to talk, I had been fancying that the vice of our journalism was its intense localism.

    A Modern Instance | William Dean Howells

British Dictionary definitions for localism

localism

/ (ˈləʊkəˌlɪzəm) /


noun
  1. a pronunciation, phrase, etc, peculiar to a particular locality

  2. another word for provincialism

Derived forms of localism

  • localist, noun
  • localistic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012