How to Use ism in a Sentence

ism

noun
  • Cubism, Impressionism, and other artistic isms.
  • The video is a tour through various eras of showgirl-ism.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2025
  • If the public is in the mood for yahoo-ism, that’s what Haley will give them.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 9 Jan. 2020
  • Here are some pithy Bolton-isms that are clear-eyed and have the advantage of being right.
    — Author: Cal Thomas | Opinion, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Mar. 2018
  • What- -about-ism is one of the weakest arguments even grade school debaters know about.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2023
  • There’s nothing says the business cycle has to be only focused on short term-ism.
    — Recode Staff, Recode, 30 May 2018
  • This season has been littered with weak attempts at both-sides-ism that simply don’t hold water.
    — Laura Bradley, HWD, 7 Dec. 2017
  • Now There's a disingenuous both-sides-ism to just about every idea the game puts forth.
    — Joshua Rivera, GQ, 2 Apr. 2018
  • But for me, entrepreneurial-ism and building start-ups is one of our values.
    — Bruce Rogers, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2021
  • Hamid’s commitment to a liberal literary ethos veers close to a vague both-sides-ism.
    — Namwali Serpell, The Atlantic, 2 Aug. 2022
  • And while the media can fall prey to both sides-ism, Bardem is unequivocal about one thing.
    — Tom Tapp, Deadline, 17 May 2026
  • One of the many McElwain-isms of the past two seasons centered on his team acting like dead fish.
    — Edgar Thompson, OrlandoSentinel.com, 16 Sep. 2017
  • Often referred to as the most socially acceptable ism, workplace ageism has been on the rise over the last decade.
    — Sheila Callaham, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2021
  • Here, our favorite Lagerfeld-isms surrounding health and above-the-neck upkeep.
    — Calin Van Paris, Vogue, 3 Oct. 2017
  • Casting white nationalist violence through the lens of both-sides-ism?
    — Chris Cillizza, CNN, 2 May 2018
  • Both-sides-ism often manifests as facts presented alongside opinion as though both hold the same weight.
    — Danielle Tcholakian, Longreads, 25 Mar. 2018
  • Name an –ism, and Breezewood is likely the prime example of everything wrong with it.
    — Nic Rowan, National Review, 29 May 2021
  • Find some civility, reel in your Me-ism, give a damn about people other than yourselves.
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 18 Apr. 2022
  • In real- life, disdain for dog discharge was not an Otto-ism that Hanks can relate to.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 12 Jan. 2023
  • His patterns, his slick talk, his mixing of hip-hop-isms with the call and response, the Southernism of fish and grits, just amazing.
    — New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
  • This is of a piece with a distinctly European safety-ism that has dogged the vaccine program since the start.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 19 Mar. 2021
  • If zombie-ism is mass psychosis, an infectious disease passed from person to person, maybe there’s a way to treat it, a way to wake up from the fog.
    — Katie Walsh, Dallas Morning News, 16 Jan. 2026
  • If zombie-ism is mass psychosis, an infectious disease passed from person to person, maybe there’s a way to treat it, a way to wake up from the fog.
    — Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 15 Jan. 2026
  • Naturally, the video was full of Will-isms — nuggets of wisdom that have made the Aladdin star famous.
    — Paula Rogo, Essence, 15 July 2019
  • Your question pings like an old pinball machine — jack-of-all-trade-ism, job-hopping, restaurant work, anxiety, ping, ping, ping.
    — Carolyn Hax, The Mercury News, 30 July 2019
  • Your question pings like an old pinball machine -- jack-of-all-trade-ism, job-hopping, restaurant work, anxiety, ping, ping, ping.
    — Carolyn Hax, al, 29 July 2019
  • Mansplaining calculus and throwing a tantrum when Cady slips out the smallest Regina-ism?
    — Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 10 Nov. 2025
  • His ‘Jack-isms’ are priceless and always made every situation lighter and funnier.
    — Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2025
  • My mother had drummed that into me, a sort of combination of Catholicism and Southern belle-ism.
    — Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, 13 Dec. 2021
  • There were Trotskyites, Maoists, Marxists and purveyors of many other isms.
    — George Melloan, WSJ, 14 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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