-ŋˌizəm noun
( -s )
1. usually capitalized K&N : the principles and policies of the 19th century Know-Nothings
2. : the fact or condition of knowing nothing or of desiring to know nothing or the conviction that nothing can be known with certitude especially in religion or morality
an ethical know-nothingism in which there is no longer any certainty … as to what is and what is not evil — F.B.Millett
3. sometimes capitalized K&N : a political attitude or philosophy of the mid-twentieth century characterized chiefly by anti-intellectualism and exaggerated patriotism and by fear of foreign and subversive influences
fighting the battle inside the government against the forces of hysteria and know-nothingism — Reed Harris