Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Advocacy of the abolition of slavery.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Belief in the principle of abolition, as of slavery; devotion to or advocacy of the opinions of abolitionists.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The principles or measures of abolitionists.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the doctrine that calls for the abolition of slavery

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

abolition +‎ -ism.

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Examples

  • The northern counties had at once become strongly Anti-Nebraska; the conservative Whig counties of the center inclined to the Know-Nothings; while the Kentuckians and Carolinians, who had settled the southern end, had strong antipathies to what they called abolitionism, and applauded Douglas and repeal.

    A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln Nicolay, John G 1904

  • If this is what you call abolitionism, I am not an abolitionist.

    History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church 1891

  • Carolinians, who had settled the southern end, had strong antipathies to what they called abolitionism, and applauded Douglas and repeal.

    A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln Condensed from Nicolay & Hay's Abraham Lincoln: A History John George Nicolay 1866

  • I stood in this Senate when there were not five men with me to support me, and then I rose here and told those who were inveighing like demons against the principles that they called abolitionism, that I was an Abolitionist.

    History of the Thirty-Ninth Congress of the United States William Horatio Barnes

  • Among the commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity with what is called abolitionism, or with

    The Writings of Abraham Lincoln — Volume 6: 1862-1863 Abraham Lincoln 1837

  • Among the commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity with what is called abolitionism, or with

    Complete Project Gutenberg Abraham Lincoln Writings Abraham Lincoln 1837

  • A clever publicist from Houghton Mifflin, the book's publisher, had arranged for Hirsch to appear at a gathering of education writers in San Francisco, where Hirsch laid out his case, including his 63-page list of terms ranging from "abolitionism" to "Zurich."

    What You Need to Know Now 2007

  • His nomination, moreover, had been secured through the diplomacy of conservative Republicans, whose morbid dread of "abolitionism" unfitted them, as I believed, for leadership in the battle with slavery which had now become inevitable, while the defeat of Mr. Seward had been to me a severe disappointment and a real personal grief.

    Political Recollections 1840 to 1872 George W. Julian

  • They forgot that the charge of "abolitionism," which was incessantly hurled at the Republican party, was thus by no means wanting in essential truth, and that when the slaveholders were vanquished in the election of Mr. Lincoln, their appeal from the ballot to the bullet was the logical result of their insane devotion to slavery, and their conviction that nothing could save it but the dismemberment of the Republic.

    Political Recollections 1840 to 1872 George W. Julian

  • The charge of "abolitionism" was flung at me everywhere, and it is impossible now to realize the odium then attaching to that term by the general opinion.

    Political Recollections 1840 to 1872 George W. Julian

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