scientism

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"scientism" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“scientism” is uncommon English (frequency #85,754 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#85,754
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The belief that the scientific method and the assumptions and research methods of the physical sciences are applicable to all other disciplines (such as the humanities and social sciences), or that...

Corpus desk

Index EN-scientism · scientism · English

scientism · rank #85,754 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #85,754
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH scrubland

Nearest frequency peer: scrubland (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “scientism”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “scientism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for scientism
PropertyValue
Headwordscientism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#85,754
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “scientism” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).scientismfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “scrubland” (#85,755), “schistosomiasis” (#85,752), “schismatic” (#85,751). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “scientism” is #85,754. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

scientism is uncommon English at frequency #85,754 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for scientism in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From science + -ism. The correct English form is scientism, spelled S-C-I-E-N-T-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The belief that the scientific method and the assumptions and research methods of the physical sciences are applicable to all other disciplines (such as the humanities and social sciences), or that those other disciplines are not as valuable.
  2. 2
    The belief that all truth is exclusively discovered through science.
  3. 3
    A pseudoscience.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how scientism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Finally, with good reason, this psychology aims to be a psychology of a purely empiriological type. It is pervaded and overwhelmed on every side, however, by a pseudometaphysics of the most vulgar character, which Freud is all the less anxious to dispense with as he imagines he has no philosophy or metaphysics at all. I say pseudometaphysics of the most v…
  2. This claim, espoused by scientific naturalists, is called scientism, the view that science is the paradigm of truth and rationality. There are two forms of scientism: strong and weak. Strong scientism […]

Etymology

From science + -ism.

This word in other languages

scientisme(Français)Szientismus(Deutsch)cientificismo(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "scientism"?
"scientism" is spelled S-C-I-E-N-T-I-S-M.
What does "scientism" mean?
As a noun, "scientism" means: The belief that the scientific method and the assumptions and research methods of the physical sciences are applicable to all other disciplines (such as the humanities and social sciences), or that...
What is the origin of the word "scientism"?
From science + -ism. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "scientism", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

scrubland#85,755sexualize#85,763shambling#85,764Rushworth#85,727

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list