modernist

[ mod-er-nist ]

/ ˈmɒd ər nɪst /

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noun

a person who follows or favors modern ways, tendencies, etc.

a person who advocates the study of modern subjects in preference to ancient classics.

an adherent of modernism in theological questions.

adjective

of modernists or modernism.

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Origin of modernist

First recorded in 1580–90; modern + -ist

OTHER WORDS FROM modernist

an·ti·mod·ern·ist, noun, adjectivehy·per·mod·ern·ist, nounpro·mod·ern·ist, adjective, noun

Words nearby modernist

modern greats, Modern Greek, Modern Hebrew, Modern Icelandic, modernism, modernist, modernistic, modernity, modernization, modernize, modern jazz

How to use modernist in a sentence

He wrote his undergraduate thesis on the modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg while studying aesthetics at the University of Tokyo.
Nam June Paik predicted the Internet, YouTube and Instagram. But he was more interesting as an artist than as a prophet.|Sebastian Smee|July 30, 2021|Washington Post
It made the modernist skyscraper—with its sealed windows and heat-absorbing materials—possible.
AC Feels Great, But It’s Terrible for the Planet. Here’s How to Fix That|Eric Dean Wilson|June 30, 2021|Time
He was drawn to the States by the modernist movement led by Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright.
A legacy of landmark buildings in Malaysia and Singapore|Kara Baskin|June 30, 2021|MIT Technology Review
However, last year, the modernist icon found itself on the World Monuments Fund’s 2020 watch list owing to a call for redevelopment proposals.
How to Save the Structures We Love Most|Stephen Starr|June 28, 2021|Ozy

Each gets a hefty bilingual reader of 20th-century verse, which I design to span everything from early modernist work to the poetry of the Spanish Civil War.
Real Madrid|Margery Resnick|April 28, 2021|MIT Technology Review
These have the pared-down, Pre-Modernist look of Art Nouveau.
The Magazine That Made—and Unmade—Politicians|Anthony Haden-Guest|November 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Every fan of modernist design is probably familiar with a few big names.
How Jews Created American Modernism|Andrew Romano|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
How did they suddenly become so prominent in the modernist design movement?
How Jews Created American Modernism|Andrew Romano|August 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Modernist in style, it has a great sloping roof and circular windows offering views of the city.
The Foodie Capital of Canada|Michele Willens|May 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Stuff like a $345 key-shaped brass bottle opener by Viennese modernist designer Carl Aubock.
I Went to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Pop-Up Shop|Andrew Romano|May 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They should be exceedingly careful not to give their imprimatur to books which are Modernist in any way.
The War Upon Religion|Rev. Francis A. Cunningham
Even Gideon was becoming less attentive when the modernist expounded the new freedom.
The Wrong Twin|Harry Leon Wilson
It is always easy to be a modernist; as it is easy to be a snob.
Orthodoxy|G. K. Chesterton
Strange, by the way, that no modernist has translated the horrors of the modern Tusculum into terms of sound and fury!
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, October 6, 1920|Various
Thus the dethronement of tradition by the Pope contributed to make the Modernist movement possible.
Outspoken Essays|William Ralph Inge