1781, in reference to words or phrases distinct from British use, coined by John Witherspoon (1723-1794), president of Princeton College, from American + -ism. (American English "English language as spoken in the United States" is first recorded 1806, in Webster.) Americanism in the patriotic sense "attachment to the U.S." is attested from 1797, first found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson.
I have been not a little disappointed, and made suspicious of my own judgment, on seeing the Edinburgh Reviews, the ablest critics of the age, set their faces against the introduction of new words into the English language; they are particularly apprehensive that the writers of the United States will adulterate it. Certainly so great growing a population, spread over such an extent of country, with such a variety of climates, of productions, of arts, must enlarge their language, to make it answer its purpose of expressing all ideas, the new as well as the old. [Jefferson to John Waldo, Aug. 16, 1813]
双语例句
1. He was, to adopt an Americanism, "an empty suit".
他，套用一句美国人的说法，就是“徒有其表”。
来自柯林斯例句
2. I liked the film's Americanism.
我喜欢这部电影的美国特色。
来自柯林斯例句
3. This phrase is labelled as an Americanism in this dictionary.
这本词典把这个短语称为美国特有的语言现象.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. Meanwhile, Americanism sets a heavy cultural foundation for American romanticism with its own national characteristics.
同时, 美国方式也为美国浪漫主义文学奠定了美国民族特有的深厚文化底蕴.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. The English appetite for authentic Americanism was fed.
