nihilist
Meaning
a person who believes that life has no meaning or purpose and that religious and moral principles have no value.
a person who rejects all political and religious authority and current social institutions in the belief that society needs to be completely destroyed and rebuilt.
Structure
Usage
the novel's protagonist is a disillusioned nihilist who finds no inherent value in human endeavors.
his nihilist philosophy led him to dismiss both religious faith and secular ideologies as equally meaningless.
the group was accused of nihilist violence, seeking to tear down the existing social order without a clear plan for what would follow.
Etymology
the term 'nihilist' is built directly on the latin root 'nihil', meaning 'nothing'. it entered english in the 19th century via german 'nihilist' and russian 'nigilist', initially describing russian revolutionaries who rejected all established authority and social norms. the suffix '-ist', a common agent-noun ending, specifies a person who advocates or embodies the doctrine of 'nothingness'. thus, the word's literal construction as 'one who believes in nothing' accurately captures its core philosophical and political meanings, from radical skepticism to revolutionary negation.
Analysis
nihil is from latin 'nihil', meaning 'nothing'. ist is a suffix from greek '-istes', via latin '-ista', denoting an adherent of a doctrine or practitioner of an activity.