modernism

American  

[mod-er-niz-uhm] / ˈmɒd ərˌnɪz əm /

noun

1. modern character, tendencies, or values; adherence to or sympathy with what is modern.

2. a modern usage or characteristic.

3. (initial capital letter)

   1. the movement in Roman Catholic thought that sought to interpret the teachings of the Church in the light of philosophic and scientific conceptions prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: condemned by Pope Pius X in 1907.

   2. the liberal theological tendency in Protestantism in the 20th century.

4. (sometimes initial capital letter) a deliberate philosophical and practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring especially in the course of the 20th century and taking form in any of various innovative movements and styles.

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modernism British  

/ ˈmɒdəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. modern tendencies, characteristics, thoughts, etc, or the support of these

2. something typical of contemporary life or thought

3. a 20th-century divergence in the arts from previous traditions, esp in architecture See International Style

4. (capital) RC Church the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought

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Other Word Forms

• antimodernism
  noun
• modernist
  noun
• modernistic
  adjective
• modernistically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of modernism

First recorded in 1730–40; modern + -ism

Explanation

Modernism describes things you do that are contemporary or current. Your modernism may be seen in your up-to-date clothing, your contemporary taste in books, and your willingness to stay up on current trends. Modernism can describe thought, behavior, or values that reflect current times, but it can also be used to describe an art and literature movement of the 19th and 20th centuries that intentionally split from earlier conservative traditions. The poet Ezra Pound was a key figure in modernism, and his famous slogan "Make it new!" sums up the values of modernism, which rejected traditional forms and styles for more experimental techniques.

Example Sentences

During Modernism Week events, Chapman said, she is telling more people than ever that she’s Canadian.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

Utterly and unapologetically aestheticized, it reveled in its surfaces, while Modernism had everything from the political to the spiritual on its mind.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

Through the sepia filter of today, it can be easy to romanticize this tale — a lesbian champion of the arts making the world safe for Modernism.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2025

To Onobrakpeya, affectionately called Baba Bruce within art circles, Nigerian Modernism is "a transfer of the old ideas, old items, old technologies, old thought into a different, modern time".

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2025

By this instance you may be partially prepared for the bold statement I am going to make to you, as to the change which constitutes Modernism.

From Lectures on Architecture and Painting Delivered at Edinburgh in November 1853 by Ruskin, John

Related Words

• modernization