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.

---

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

His journey is one of extreme survival, but his destination is the lap of luxury: a modernist San Francisco mansion where he makes himself at home and where he’s clearly been before.

From Los Angeles Times

Hedda paces around the villa, sketched with modernist spareness by scenic designer Mark Wendland, like a panther in a gold-plated cage.

From Los Angeles Times

Written in 133 short sections, it moves more like a modernist work than a Romantic one.

From The Wall Street Journal

Dating from 1920, it stands beside the former North British Diesel Engine Work building, one of the earliest examples of modernist industrial architecture in Scotland.

From BBC

Rather, as Gerri Kimber explains in “Katherine Mansfield: A Hidden Life,” they would be known as literary sparring partners, both engaged in the high-stakes project of forging a new modernist literature.

From The Wall Street Journal