modernism

noun

mod·​ern·​ism ˈmä-dər-ˌni-zəm 

1

: a practice, usage, or expression peculiar to modern times

such modernisms as "blog," "bromance," and "steampunk"

2

often capitalized : a tendency in theology to accommodate traditional religious teaching to contemporary thought and especially to devalue supernatural elements

3

: modern artistic or literary philosophy and practice

especially : a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression

extols the … modernism that laid the foundation of all twentieth-century design

—Jeffrey Simpson

modernist

ˈmä-dər-nist 

noun or adjective

modernistic

ˌmä-dər-ˈni-stik 

adjective

Examples of modernism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That energy is partially the result of efforts to study and acquire South Asian art at institutions such as the Guggenheim Museum, Tate, and the Museum of Modern Art, themselves part of a larger attempt to expand the history of modernism. —Karen K. Ho, ARTnews.com, 24 June 2024

Though its proponents claim the authority of modernism, their arguments repeat attacks that the Constitution has already weathered before. —John Yoo, National Review, 23 June 2024

Hughes makes the case that the new world of cats which Wain both chronicled and helped to create is a signal instance of modernism in all its confusion and uncertainty. —The New Yorker, 12 June 2024

The Harlem Renaissance largely took place in the 1920s and ’30s, just when modernism was reaching the zenith of its influence across art, literature, and music. —Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1737, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing modernism

• hyper-modernism

Kids Definition

modernism

noun

mod·​ern·​ism ˈmäd-ər-ˌniz-əm 

: a modern custom, expression, style, or idea

modernist

-nəst 

noun or adjective

modernistic

ˌmäd-ər-ˈnis-tik 

adjective