noun
-
the quality or state of being modern
-
something modern
Other Word Forms
- hypermodernity noun
- unmodernity noun
Etymology
Origin of modernity
Explanation
Use the noun modernity when you're talking about the newness of something, like the modernity of the new, sleek skyscraper in your city. When something is contemporary — it feels like it belongs in the present day — you might take note of its modernity. Sometimes people use the word to discuss something old that's becoming more modern, or attempting to find its place today. You could talk about the balance between tradition and modernity in the Hindu faith, for example. The root of modernity is the Latin word modernus, "modern."
Vocabulary lists containing modernity
Top Ten Most Relevant Words from the Second Democratic Debate, November 14, 2015
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Second Democratic Debate 20 words
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Groups within it – including pickup artists, men’s rights groups and “involuntary celibate” or “incel” communities – portray themselves as victims of modernity.
From Salon • Apr. 6, 2026
Ivorians need to put African heritage first and stop trying to "catch up with Western modernity", he added.
From Barron's • Feb. 20, 2026
The development of modernity, then, consists in increasingly detailed maps of the undiscovered continent that Machiavelli perceived only in part.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026
Yet they were also influential in pushing reggae into modernity, using digital instrumentation on Chaka Demus & Pliers’ 1993 smash “Murder She Wrote” and grafting their textures into the Fugees’ bestselling LP “The Score.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2026
It is Weber’s conception of modernity which particularly draws our attention to this aspect of the Scientific Revolution.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
