How to Use universalism in a Sentence

universalism

noun
  • Those users who are uncomfortable with this universalism are caught in a double bind.
    — Tung-Hui Hu, WIRED, 12 Oct. 2022
  • Even against that darker kind of universalism, however, some light manages to break through.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2025
  • As such, Lincoln’s conception of civic virtue is a kind of universalism.
    — Cameron Hilditch, National Review, 18 Sep. 2020
  • Whatever the metaphor, there is always a need to push our thinking toward universalism.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Sep. 2020
  • Meacham and Lepore are not alone in their concern for the idea of the nation that avoids tribalism and universalism.
    — Grayson Logue, National Review, 10 Aug. 2019
  • Under Labour, Britain would have a larger, deeper state, with a return to universalism at its core.
    — The Economist, 21 Nov. 2019
  • But universalism is an awkward framework for understanding what drove holy warriors to Bosnia in the first place.
    — Darryl Li, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2020
  • Brustein’s universalism grew ornerier and more claustrophobic with age.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2023
  • But for most of its history this exceptionalism has been a form of self-regarding universalism; in time, the rest of the world would catch up.
    — The Economist, 16 Dec. 2017
  • Their attempts at political discourse often veered toward the group speaking in vague, naïve universalisms.
    — Emma Madden, Pitchfork, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Liberal states and activists must tone down their legalism, moralism, and universalism.
    — Jack Snyder, Foreign Affairs, 21 July 2022
  • The universalism of this challenge, revealed in Johnson’s illness, is its most novel feature.
    — Tom McTague, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2020
  • But his principles of universalism did not come effortlessly.
    — Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2024
  • Wyatt sat down with Billboard earlier this year to talk about her new music, her time behind bars and the bittersweet universalism of a broken heart.
    — Dave Brooks, Billboard, 3 Aug. 2023
  • The watchword is universalism, referring to an abstract notion of citizenship to which all must subscribe.
    — Rachel Donadio, The Atlantic, 22 Nov. 2021
  • Because of poetry’s universalism, the philosopher continues, the passage of time enriches it rather than making it out of date.
    — Robyn Creswell, The New York Review of Books, 7 Oct. 2021
  • There’s a play for universalism here, a bet against identity politics, or extreme partisanship.
    — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2019
  • Race was a taboo topic for decades in France, which is officially committed to a doctrine of colorblind universalism.
    — John Leicester, Sylvie Corbet and Lewis Joly, Anchorage Daily News, 2 July 2023
  • What was distinctive about the BBC was its universalism and its intention to improve people’s lives.
    — Sam Knight, The New Yorker, 11 Apr. 2022
  • The results in places like Burundi, Iraq, and Rwanda were often short-lived and ultimately led to bloodshed. Avoiding the hard sell will require that liberal states and activists tone down their legalism, moralism, and universalism.
    — Jack Snyder, Foreign Affairs, 21 July 2022
  • The French establishment sees laïcité as a core proposition of universalism and of the république—a way of preventing social fracture.
    — Rachel Donadio, The Atlantic, 22 Nov. 2021
  • Finally, there is Obama's tendency toward universalism, which is a major bone of contention in many quarters.
    — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 19 Jan. 2012
  • The language of leftist universalism now seems ever more remote from Israel’s reality.
    — Adam Louis-Klein, The Atlantic, 18 June 2026
  • But Obadia’s deeper objection is about universalism.
    — Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 8 Apr. 2026
  • The hardest questions, the deepest conflicts between past and present, identity and universalism, aren’t resolved or even addressed in its 90-minute running time.
    — Ross Douthat, National Review, 20 Aug. 2020
  • While well versed in Russian literature, their ways of thinking were nonetheless stamped by different standards of rigor and universalism.
    — Benjamin Nathans september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
  • What is ultimately at stake in the new literature is the question of Paul’s commitment to universalism and, through him, the universalism of his faith.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026
  • But this new theology of inclusion and universalism marked his downfall within the evangelical mainstream.
    — Meagan Jordan, Rolling Stone, 23 Nov. 2023
  • Its universalism is somewhat ironic because the nine-song project is a love letter from Luke, to Luke, a collection borne from a process of deep introspection that spanned the course of six long years.
    — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 15 Mar. 2021
  • The attempt to repel Western universalism has been stunningly successful.
    — The Economist, 16 Dec. 2017

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

Last Updated: