Meaning & use

hedonism

noun·Advanced

The pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence as the most important goal in life.

See it in a sentence

Critics accused the resort's advertising of celebrating pure hedonism over rest or culture.

His philosophy professor traced hedonism back to ancient Greek thinkers like Epicurus.

A note on using this word

Hedonism can describe both a casual lifestyle choice and a formal philosophical position that pleasure is the highest good.

Words with a similar meaning

self-indulgence

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

asceticism

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