How to Use ism in a Sentence

ism

noun
  • Cubism, Impressionism, and other artistic isms.
  • If the public is in the mood for yahoo-ism, that’s what Haley will give them.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 9 Jan. 2020
  • Here are some pithy Bolton-isms that are clear-eyed and have the advantage of being right.
    Author: Cal Thomas | Opinion, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Mar. 2018
  • One of the many McElwain-isms of the past two seasons centered on his team acting like dead fish.
    Edgar Thompson, OrlandoSentinel.com, 16 Sep. 2017
  • It’s, like, this Romney-ism 3.0, that says that half of the country are worthless takers?
    Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2019
  • Now There's a disingenuous both-sides-ism to just about every idea the game puts forth.
    Joshua Rivera, GQ, 2 Apr. 2018
  • What- -about-ism is one of the weakest arguments even grade school debaters know about.
    Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2023
  • Best-of lists are generally a pile of fried baloney seasoned with a sprinkle of know-it-all-ism.
    BostonGlobe.com, 22 July 2022
  • Naturally, the video was full of Will-isms — nuggets of wisdom that have made the Aladdin star famous.
    Paula Rogo, Essence, 15 July 2019
  • The Trump-ism of the health-care reform, the Trump-iest parts of it, were transparency in pricing, competition across state lines. . .
    The Washington Post, The Denver Post, 7 Mar. 2017
  • There’s nothing says the business cycle has to be only focused on short term-ism.
    Recode Staff, Recode, 30 May 2018
  • Often referred to as the most socially acceptable ism, workplace ageism has been on the rise over the last decade.
    Sheila Callaham, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2021
  • This is of a piece with a distinctly European safety-ism that has dogged the vaccine program since the start.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 19 Mar. 2021
  • In real- life, disdain for dog discharge was not an Otto-ism that Hanks can relate to.
    Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2023
  • Other nasty-isms afflict the campers in 1941: William, born a Jew in Lithuania, accuses his wife of anti-Semitism.
    Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post, 6 June 2019
  • Name an –ism, and Breezewood is likely the prime example of everything wrong with it.
    Nic Rowan, National Review, 29 May 2021
  • Here, our favorite Lagerfeld-isms surrounding health and above-the-neck upkeep.
    Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 3 Oct. 2017
  • And, it must be said, the blithe status quo-ism of Mr Biden could be even more off-putting to Mr Sanders’s supporters than her wonkish pragmatism.
    The Economist, 15 Aug. 2019
  • This season has been littered with weak attempts at both-sides-ism that simply don’t hold water.
    Laura Bradley, HWD, 7 Dec. 2017
  • The comedy isn’t as gonzo but the essence of McGuane-ism is very much here: dry wit, wry confusion and prose as chiseled and striking as a Rocky Mountain butte.
    Sam Sacks, WSJ, 2 Mar. 2018
  • But based on what October and, to this point, November have delivered, there now is the flip side of the aforementioned Spo-isms.
    Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Hamid’s commitment to a liberal literary ethos veers close to a vague both-sides-ism.
    Namwali Serpell, The Atlantic, 2 Aug. 2022
  • My mother had drummed that into me, a sort of combination of Catholicism and Southern belle-ism.
    Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 13 Dec. 2021
  • But for me, entrepreneurial-ism and building start-ups is one of our values.
    Bruce Rogers, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2021
  • But, wrapped up in Pompeo's answer is a classic Washington case of having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too-ism.
    Chris Cillizza, CNN, 12 Apr. 2018
  • There were Trotskyites, Maoists, Marxists and purveyors of many other isms.
    George Melloan, WSJ, 14 May 2018
  • Find some civility, reel in your Me-ism, give a damn about people other than yourselves.
    Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 18 Apr. 2022
  • Most of the doors open to reveal a Bob Ross-ism or meditation rather than a painting activity.
    Katie Melynn, Peoplemag, 2 Dec. 2022
  • The question now is whether Ailes-ism -- as channeled through Trump -- can be a successful governing approach.
    Chris Cillizza, CNN, 18 May 2017
  • With Seattle now under zombie control at the hands of Fillmore-Graves, Ravi's search for a cure and vaccine for zombie-ism is now more dire than ever.
    Phillip Molnar, sandiegouniontribune.com, 7 July 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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