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

Mr. Epstein writes at length about how Virginia Woolf used creative constraints to develop her modernist novels.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

With Lebanon, again, engulfed by war, I remember a meeting I had with President Joseph Aoun at the Baabda Palace, a modernist building at the top of a hill overlooking Beirut last August.

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026

It’s a thrilling example of progressive modernist design.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026

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

From MarketWatch • Mar. 16, 2026

He lived alone, in a nondescript apartment near his lab in London, and in a spare, white modernist cottage that he had built for himself in Brighton.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee