This article presents a long-term account of isms from antiquity to the present. It discusses the spread of isms into nearly all spheres of life and why isms are still perceived as ideological. Based on a combined analysis of word frequencies in large digital libraries and more detailed contextual discussions of patriotism, liberalism, nationalism and totalitarianism, the article studies the emergence of isms and their potential transformation from pejorative labels to concepts of group-identification and analytical categories. Isms have been highlighted as future-oriented concepts on which modern political ideologies were built from the early nineteenth century on. Isms have also been identified as being collectively responsible for the twentieth-century experience that has been conceptualized as totalitarianism. While elaborating the notion of isms as ideological future-oriented 'concepts of movement', the article points out their crucial role in forging historic roots for these modern ideologies as well as for religious and cultural phenomena. By emphasizing the rhetorical potential in using isms as words of abuse, forging traditions for isms and claiming universal applicability to isms, the article provides insight into the constant renegotiation of the relationship between ideologies and isms, a phenomenon that has gained increased topicality in recent decades.