[f. ECCLESIASTIC + -ISM.] The spirit and temper, or the principles of action, which are distinctively ecclesiastical.

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1862.  ‘Shirley’ (J. Skelton), Nugæ Crit., vii. 297. There are … certain anomalies of mediæval ecclesiasticism … which are utterly repugnant to his intellect.

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1876.  A. M. Fairbairn, Strauss, II. in Contemp. Rev., June, 139. The struggle between … Ecclesiasticism and Humanism.

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1882.  Farrar, Early Chr., II. xxxvi. 506. A character extremely familiar in the annals of ecclesiasticism.

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  b.  concr. An ecclesiastical system.

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1868.  Fortn. Rev., May, 498. Those organisations … contrast … with the older ecclesiasticisms.

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