art nouveau

[ ahrt noo-voh, ahr; French ar-noo-voh ]

/ ˌɑrt nuˈvoʊ, ˌɑr; French ar nuˈvoʊ /

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noun (often initial capital letters)Fine Arts.

a style of fine and applied art current in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized chiefly by curvilinear motifs often derived from natural forms.

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Origin of art nouveau

1900–05; <French: literally, new art

Words nearby art nouveau

artless, art lining, artmobile, art mobilier, art music, art nouveau, Artois, artophorion, artotype, art paper, art rock

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use art nouveau in a sentence

An art nouveau treasure, this building boasts an extraordinary Tiffany ceiling that you may want to stare at your entire vacation.
Your Guide for When Travel Returns|Daniel Malloy|December 27, 2020|Ozy
The pulps brought new readers to serious fiction, making it less intimidating with alluring art and low prices.
How Pulp Fiction Saved Literature|Wendy Smith|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Cold War fears could be manipulated through misleading art to attract readers to daunting material.
How Pulp Fiction Saved Literature|Wendy Smith|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In “Steal This Episode,” the filmmaker denounces Homer Simpson as an “enemy of art.”
Here’s the Lost Judd Apatow ‘Simpsons’ Episode, Penned by Judd Apatow|Asawin Suebsaeng|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST

But those watching Selma were judging a work of cinematic art.
Dr. King Goes to Hollywood: The Flawed History of ‘Selma’|Gary May|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I spent time yesterday listening to the music you made, and looking at the art you created.
Dear Leelah, We Will Fight On For You: A Letter to a Dead Trans Teen|Parker Molloy|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Woman is mistress of the art of completely embittering the life of the person on whom she depends.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
Many of these have been seen in the Corcoran Art Gallery and in other public exhibitions.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
Adequate conception of the extent, the variety, the excellence of the works of Art here heaped together is impossible.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
So it commands the other sciences in all the wonderful and hidden things of nature and art (pp. 510-511).
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume II of II)|Henry Osborn Taylor
While residing in Brussels these two artists began to collect works of art for what is now known as the Mesdag Museum.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement

British Dictionary definitions for art nouveau

Art Nouveau

/ (ɑː nuːˈvəʊ, French ar nuvo) /

noun

a style of art and architecture of the 1890s, characterized by swelling sinuous outlines and stylized natural forms, such as flowers and leaves
(as modifier)an Art-Nouveau mirror

Word Origin for Art Nouveau

French, literally: new art

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012