Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Excessive concern with outer circumstances or appearances.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as phenomenalism.
  • noun Attention or devotion to externals; especially, undue regard to externals, as of religion.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of being manifest to the senses; external acts or appearances; regard for externals.
  • noun (Metaph.) That philosophy or doctrine which recognizes or deals only with externals, or objects of sense perception; positivism; phenomenalism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Excessive regard to outward acts or appearances, especially in religion. The denial of internalism.
  • noun The act of judging by outward appearance or acts.
  • noun The belief that only things that can be observed by senses are real.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

c. 1840 external +‎ -ism

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