mannerism
Americannoun
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a habitual or characteristic manner, mode, or way of doing something; distinctive quality or style, as in behavior or speech.
He has an annoying mannerism of tapping his fingers while he talks. They copied his literary mannerisms but always lacked his ebullience.
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marked or excessive adherence to an unusual or a particular manner, especially if affected.
Natural courtesy is a world apart from snobbish mannerism.
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(usually initial capital letter) a style in the fine arts developed principally in Europe during the 16th century, chiefly characterized by a complex perspectival system, elongation of forms, strained gestures or poses of figures, and intense, often strident color.
noun
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a distinctive and individual gesture or trait; idiosyncrasy
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(often capital) a principally Italian movement in art and architecture between the High Renaissance and Baroque periods (1520–1600) that sought to represent an ideal of beauty rather than natural images of it, using characteristic distortion and exaggeration of human proportions, perspective, etc
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adherence to a distinctive or affected manner, esp in art or literature
Other Word Forms
- mannerist noun
- manneristic adjective
- manneristically adverb
- nonmanneristic adjective
- semimanneristic adjective
Etymology
Origin of mannerism
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.
With his country twang and aw-shucks mannerisms belying a keen intellect, Will Rogers was the lasso-roping star of vaudeville and the Broadway stage.
From Los Angeles Times
Elordi has adopted one or two of Karloff’s mannerisms: the arms outstretched in search of warmth, the lurching walk.
From Los Angeles Times
It’s standardizing uniforms, cafe decor and worker mannerisms.
He studied their individual tics and mannerisms to find the things that people across the world might only note subconsciously, and wove them into his caricatures.
From Salon
A lot of what he did and does, I’ve stolen those moves, and so we get to do scenes where he’s playing my dad and our mannerisms are so uncomfortably similar.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
