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Timonism.

A form of bitter misanthropy, a despair leading to hatred or contemptuous rejection of mankind, like Timon of Athens.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtaɪmənɪzəm/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. A form of bitter misanthropy, a despair leading to hatred or contemptuous rejection of mankind, like Timon of Athens.

    countable · uncountable
    This most cruel betrayal led him to Timonism.
  2. A bitter or cynical utterance or behavior, in the manner of Timon of Athens.

    countable · uncountable
    Pay no attention to his Timonisms; it's a pose.
Where this word comes from

From Timon + -ism, after the 5th-century-BCE person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes), possibly by way of William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens (c. 1607). Used in the Westminster Review (maybe after the earlier Timonist) in an 1840 review. Erroneously attributed to Herman Melville, who popularized it later in 1852.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.