Definition of "individualism" []

• Belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence. (noun)
• Acts or an act based on this belief. (noun)
• A doctrine advocating freedom from government regulation in the pursuit of a person's economic goals. (noun)
• A doctrine holding that the interests of the individual should take precedence over the interests of the state or social group. (noun)
• The quality of being an individual; individuality. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "We seem to be standing up for corporate profit, but defending our individualism is the straw man."
• "Indeed, just as Tocqueville had to coin the term individualism to describe the unique way he observed Americans relating to one another in society, he also invented a concept that he called "the principle of interest rightly understood" to describe Americans 'moral code."
• "They have treated students as members of competing racial groups rather than individuals, claiming that "individualism" is a form of "cultural racism.""