particularism
noun
par·tic·u·lar·ism
pər-ˈti-k(yə-)lə-ˌri-zəm 
pə-,
also pär-
1
: exclusive or special devotion to a particular interest
2
: a political theory that each political group has a right to promote its own interests and especially independence without regard to the interests of larger groups
3
: a tendency to explain complex social phenomena in terms of a single causative factor
Examples of particularism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The stifling centripetal forces of globalism despise the defiant particularism of the Jewish nation and the modern Jewish state.
—
Newsweek, 18 Mar. 2025
The conflict between universalism and particularism remains the defining test of today, as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, destroys cities to forward its fundamentalist vision and nativist groups in Europe attack immigrants to serve their nationalist ones.
—Christian Madsbjerg, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2015
Those include the tensions between religious belief and the academic understanding of religion; Jewish particularism and universalism; and how to construe the relationship between antinomian religious movements and modernity.
—Susan Neiman, The New York Review of Books, 6 Apr. 2023
But as Superman went through various metamorphoses, and corporate overseers, his Jewish particularism ebbed and flowed, depending on who was writing, acting, or directing.
—Jay Michaelson, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2023
In popular and political culture, Malcolm and Martin represented not just separation and integration but hate and love, particularism and universalism, resentment and reconciliation, North and South, the street and the church, and, to King’s particular frustration, masculinity and effeminacy.
—Brandon M. Terry, The New York Review of Books, 11 Mar. 2021
But French universalism has become its own very specific particularism.
—Rachel Donadio, The Atlantic, 22 Nov. 2021
Just as King has been shorn of his political radicalism—his democratic socialism, his anti-imperialism—his religious particularism is too often ignored.
—Matthew Sitman, The New Republic, 15 Apr. 2021
The task for our time is to preserve international stability while making a sustainable place for the domestic particularisms without which even the most rational of structures will collapse upon itself for want of popular legitimacy.
—A. Wess Mitchell, National Review, 2 Apr. 2020
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Newsweek, 18 Mar. 2025
The conflict between universalism and particularism remains the defining test of today, as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, destroys cities to forward its fundamentalist vision and nativist groups in Europe attack immigrants to serve their nationalist ones.
—Christian Madsbjerg, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2015
Those include the tensions between religious belief and the academic understanding of religion; Jewish particularism and universalism; and how to construe the relationship between antinomian religious movements and modernity.
—Susan Neiman, The New York Review of Books, 6 Apr. 2023
But as Superman went through various metamorphoses, and corporate overseers, his Jewish particularism ebbed and flowed, depending on who was writing, acting, or directing.
—Jay Michaelson, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2023
In popular and political culture, Malcolm and Martin represented not just separation and integration but hate and love, particularism and universalism, resentment and reconciliation, North and South, the street and the church, and, to King’s particular frustration, masculinity and effeminacy.
—Brandon M. Terry, The New York Review of Books, 11 Mar. 2021
But French universalism has become its own very specific particularism.
—Rachel Donadio, The Atlantic, 22 Nov. 2021
Just as King has been shorn of his political radicalism—his democratic socialism, his anti-imperialism—his religious particularism is too often ignored.
—Matthew Sitman, The New Republic, 15 Apr. 2021
The task for our time is to preserve international stability while making a sustainable place for the domestic particularisms without which even the most rational of structures will collapse upon itself for want of popular legitimacy.
—A. Wess Mitchell, National Review, 2 Apr. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Particularism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/particularism. Accessed 19 Apr. 2025.
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