modernism

American  

[mod-er-niz-uhm] / ˈmɒd ərˌnɪz əm /

noun

• modernisms
  plural

1. modern character, tendencies, or values; adherence to or sympathy with what is modern.

2. a modern usage or characteristic.

3. (initial capital letter)

   1. the movement in Roman Catholic thought that sought to interpret the teachings of the Church in the light of philosophic and scientific conceptions prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: condemned by Pope Pius X in 1907.

   2. the liberal theological tendency in Protestantism in the 20th century.

4. (sometimes initial capital letter) a deliberate philosophical and practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring especially in the course of the 20th century and taking form in any of various innovative movements and styles.

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modernism British  

/ ˈmɒdəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. modern tendencies, characteristics, thoughts, etc, or the support of these

2. something typical of contemporary life or thought

3. a 20th-century divergence in the arts from previous traditions, esp in architecture See International Style

4. (capital) RC Church the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antimodernism
  noun
• modernist
  noun
• modernistic
  adjective
• modernistically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• modernisms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of modernism

First recorded in 1730–40; modern + -ism

Explanation

Modernism describes things you do that are contemporary or current. Your modernism may be seen in your up-to-date clothing, your contemporary taste in books, and your willingness to stay up on current trends. Modernism can describe thought, behavior, or values that reflect current times, but it can also be used to describe an art and literature movement of the 19th and 20th centuries that intentionally split from earlier conservative traditions. The poet Ezra Pound was a key figure in modernism, and his famous slogan "Make it new!" sums up the values of modernism, which rejected traditional forms and styles for more experimental techniques.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

modernism modernisms

Edwards has harnessed the language of European modernism to tell a singularly, painfully American story.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

“Tucked behind mature hedging on one of Malibu’s most desirable streets, this exquisite estate presents a striking blend of California modernism and rustic refinement,” the listing noted.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

Exhibition text here acknowledges the impact of Japanese colonialism on modern Korean painting, but the story stays with the artists, showing how they built internal support networks to define Korean modernism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026

Emerging in the late ’60s and hitting its stride by the ’80s, postmodernism is defined as a reaction against that less-is-more, strict-type of modernism that came from Europe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026

Given that Russia was at this point at the very vanguard of modernism it was a bitter pill to swallow, and understandably so.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Anderson expresses a fan’s zeal and a collector’s greed for both canonical works and weird odds and ends, a love for old modernisms that is undogmatic and unsentimental.

From New York Times ● Oct. 20, 2021

Instead, they look to South America and Concrete art, with its cross-fertilization of imported European and indigenous modernisms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2018

The view that there were many modernisms is now commonplace.

From Economist ● Oct. 26, 2017

There he produced a stream of paintings that synthesized Cubism and other European modernisms, mixed in non-Western motifs and mysterious symbols and culminated in his lusty, elegiac German Officer paintings.

From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2014

I do feel that there's not much happiness in these so-called modernisms, but don't let's spoil our few minutes....

From V. V.'s Eyes by Henry Sydnor Harrison

Related Words

• modernization