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.
So much attention is on their similarities in their swings and other mannerism, but the needle and the trash talking is not to be overlooked.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 16, 2023
“Even the officials complimented how well the kids behaved. Those are positive things beyond football and what we try to do about their mannerism and character.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2022
The flamboyant late Renaissance style of art known in English as mannerism has gone out of fashion more than once.
From Washington Post • Jan. 28, 2022
More than 850 people worked on recreating Abba "in their prime" using motion capture technology to scan "every mannerism and every motion" of the musicians, who are now in their 70s, as they performed.
From BBC • Sep. 2, 2021
Jethro had picked up a mannerism from his mother.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
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.
