modernist

American  

[mod-er-nist] / ˈmɒd ər nɪst /

noun

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

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

3. an adherent of modernism in theological questions.

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adjective

1. of modernists or modernism.

Other Word Forms

• antimodernist noun
• hypermodernist noun
• promodernist adjective

Etymology

Origin of modernist

First recorded in 1580–90; modern + -ist

Example Sentences

Mr. Puryear’s ambitious works incorporate African, Minimalist and modernist influences, not to mention woodworking, shipbuilding and basket weaving.

From The Wall Street Journal

Renderings of the structure, which is situated in Symphony Park, show a cubed modernist building with a large awning that stretches over a bustling entry plaza to provide shade.

From Los Angeles Times

He then proceeded to gut the architectural gem, with reports at the time suggesting that he wanted to turn the concrete structure into a kind of modernist bomb shelter.

From MarketWatch

Nearly 60 works introduce audiences to her unique modernist perspective that, over the course of her career, shifted her vision from traditional realism to one that was expressively avant-garde.

From The Wall Street Journal

Her fiction, so alive to sensory experience and the interior struggles of the mind and heart, helped extend the literary tradition of Virginia Woolf, a modernist whom Welty deeply admired.

From The Wall Street Journal