modernist

[ mod-er-nist ]

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 Words From

• anti·modern·ist noun adjective
• hyper·modern·ist noun
• pro·modern·ist adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of modernist¹

First recorded in 1580–90; modern + -ist

Example Sentences

He wrote his undergraduate thesis on the modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg while studying aesthetics at the University of Tokyo.

From Washington Post

It made the modernist skyscraper—with its sealed windows and heat-absorbing materials—possible.

From Time

He was drawn to the States by the modernist movement led by Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright.

From 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.

From 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.

From MIT Technology Review

These have the pared-down, Pre-Modernist look of Art Nouveau.

From The Daily Beast

Every fan of modernist design is probably familiar with a few big names.

From The Daily Beast

How did they suddenly become so prominent in the modernist design movement?

From The Daily Beast

Modernist in style, it has a great sloping roof and circular windows offering views of the city.

From The Daily Beast

Stuff like a $345 key-shaped brass bottle opener by Viennese modernist designer Carl Aubock.

From The Daily Beast

They should be exceedingly careful not to give their imprimatur to books which are Modernist in any way.

From Project Gutenberg

Even Gideon was becoming less attentive when the modernist expounded the new freedom.

From Project Gutenberg

It is always easy to be a modernist; as it is easy to be a snob.

From Project Gutenberg

Strange, by the way, that no modernist has translated the horrors of the modern Tusculum into terms of sound and fury!

From Project Gutenberg

Thus the dethronement of tradition by the Pope contributed to make the Modernist movement possible.

From Project Gutenberg