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

Explanation

An artist who belonged to a 19th- and 20th-century art movement that rejected old ideas and styles was called a modernist. Virginia Woolf is one example of a modernist writer. The philosophy behind modernist art and writing was basically that the old Victorian ways of expressing artistic vision weren't keeping up with the changes in society. Modern industry, the growth of cities, and reactions to World War I were all factors that affected modernists' break with the old style. Modernist painters included the Impressionists (like Manet and Monet). Philosopher Immanuel Kant, psychologist Sigmund Freud, and composer Arnold Schoenberg are all also considered to be modernists.

Example Sentences

It features a very modernist design, with two separate wings of the home connected by a central walkthrough area.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 16, 2026

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 • Feb. 27, 2026

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 • Feb. 16, 2026

Mr. Loconte might also have spent more time addressing the group’s conflict with modernist writers: Lewis and Tolkien intended their projects to refute the efforts of poets such as T.S.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

In the newspaper L’Intransigeant, the modernist poet Guillaume Apollinaire praised the portrait: “The Mona Lisa was so beautiful that her perfection has come to be taken for granted.”

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day