aestheticism
Americannoun
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the acceptance of artistic beauty and taste as a fundamental standard, ethical and other standards being secondary.
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an exaggerated devotion to art, music, or poetry, with indifference to practical matters.
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a late Victorian movement in British and American art characterized by a dedicatedly eclectic search for beauty and by an interest in old English, Japanese, and classical art.
noun
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the doctrine that aesthetic principles are of supreme importance and that works of art should be judged accordingly
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sensitivity to beauty, esp in art, music, literature, etc
Etymology
Origin of aestheticism
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some writers and artists who initially championed boundary-pushing aestheticism later found a spiritual home in the Catholic Church.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
The standoff between Blanche’s impractical aestheticism and Stanley’s ruthless pragmatism is the heart of this quintessentially American drama.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2024
Really, there’s nothing pure about either cinema — a hybrid art form stamped from birth with the mark of commerce — or cinephilia, which combines lofty aestheticism with more visceral, less respectable forms of delight.
From New York Times • Sep. 5, 2022
The centrepiece of this area of academia and aestheticism was a giant hall, the manifestation of Prince Albert's idea of a hub where people could gather and share ideas.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2021
The artistic movement had invaded dress and upholstery, and Pre-Raphaelitism tapered down into aestheticism, domestic art, and the wearing of sunflowers.
From A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century by Beers, Henry A. (Henry Augustin)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
