Jump to:

• art deco
  art deco

  noun

  a style of decorative art developed originally in the 1920s with a revival in the 1960s, marked chiefly by geometric motifs, curvilinear forms, sharply defined outlines, often bold colors, and the use of synthetic materials, as plastics.
• Art Deco
  Art Deco

  noun

art deco

American  

Or Art Deco

noun

1. a style of decorative art developed originally in the 1920s with a revival in the 1960s, marked chiefly by geometric motifs, curvilinear forms, sharply defined outlines, often bold colors, and the use of synthetic materials, as plastics.

---

Art Deco British  

/ ˈdɛkəʊ /

noun

1. 1. a style of interior decoration, jewellery, architecture, etc, at its height in the 1930s and characterized by geometrical shapes, stylized natural forms, and symmetrical utilitarian designs adapted to mass production

   2. ( as modifier )

      an Art-Deco carpet

---

Etymology

Origin of art deco

1965–70; < French Art Déco, shortened from Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an exposition of modern decorative and industrial arts held in Paris, France, in 1925

Example Sentences

He has gutted the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House’s private quarters, altering its green Art Deco tile work to a sterile marble with gold fixtures.

From Salon • May 7, 2026

Hundreds of people watched from Pomona College’s historic Bridges Auditorium, a Renaissance Revival-style landmark with Art Deco flourishes that was once among the premier performance venues in Southern California.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026

As designed by David Rockwell, it’s sumptuously drenched in Art Deco, a pristinely elegant background in amusing contrast to the farcically inelegant events that take place in it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

It added it would have a long bonnet to give it a "torpedo-shaped form", drawing inspiration from the company's experimental cars of the 1920s, known as EX models, and the Art Deco era.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Like the rest of the buildings at Rock Center, Tuttle’s had a kind of boring tan Art Deco facade.

From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore