hedonism

First attested 1856: from Ancient Greek ἡδονή (hēdonḗ, “pleasure”) +‎ -ism.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hĕdənĭzəm, IPA^(key): /ˈhɛdənɪzəm/
• (General American) enPR: hēdənĭzəm, IPA^(key): /ˈhiːdənɪzəm/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: he‧don‧ism

hedonism (usually uncountable, plural hedonisms)

1. (ethics, uncountable) The philosophical belief that happiness, particularly sensual pleasure, is the highest good in life.
   • 2020 April 24, Jeremy M. Davies, “No Sleep till Auschwitz”, in The Baffler‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 September 2020:

     It began with his shrugging off of both family and faith and taking the Amtrak Vermonter out of Penn Station to major in minor hedonism and minor in the major modernists at a hippie college in the great Jewless north.

2. (countable) A general devotion to the pursuit of pleasure.

• Cyrenaicism

• asceticism

• selfishness

• Epicureanism (advocating mental pleasures & a need for most typical virtues to avoid pain)

• hedonic
• hedonics
• hedonist
• hedonistic
• hedonistically

• debauchery

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “hedonism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “hedonism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• demonish, monished, Sondheim

Borrowed from French hédonisme.

hedonism n (uncountable)

1. hedonism

• “hedonism”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

hedonism c

1. hedonism (philosophically or more generally)

• hedonist (“hedonist”)
• hedonistisk (“hedonistic”)

• epikurism (“Epicureanism”)
• eudemonism (“eudaemonism”)

• hedonism in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• hedonism in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• hedonism in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)