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
It all looks effortless because the power is married to aestheticism, and there isn't an extra note in the composition.
From BBC • May 23, 2023
The game the rivals play is beautiful, Cathedral coach Arturo Torres said, because of its aestheticism.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2022
The 20-something Wilde had earlier perfected the delivery of his pronouncements — the slow enunciation, the casual hand gesture — while lecturing on aestheticism and home decoration in America.
From Washington Post • Oct. 12, 2021
The origin of aestheticism is the same as that of mysticism.
From Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic by Croce, Benedetto
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.
