noun
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the quality or state of being modern
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something modern
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
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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.
See Examples For:
Further, “lethal injection involves individuals with health care training, giving it a sheen of modernity, technological advancement, even sophistication.”
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026
The Chrysler Building, which was opened in 1930 as a symbol of exuberance and modernity, had faced several years of uncertainty over its ownership.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Silents aren’t entirely lost to modernity, of course.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
Her Butterfly is no pathetic victim—having chosen Pinkerton, America and modernity, she finally accepts that they will destroy her.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
From the comfortable vantage of modernity, such magnitudes seem safe bets.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
In it, he seemed to shove fiction abruptly in the direction of the 21st century, describing humans as they muddled through overwhelming modernities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2022
Do you find that they are incorporating a lot of modern techniques or modernities in general into the etiquette rules now?
From Slate ● May 2, 2017
The combination was surprisingly good, with the stark modernities of “Limen” set against the lush romanticism of “Marguerite” and the vaguely mystical rites of “Requiem.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2011
The singing alternated between hummable melodies and tricky modernities.
From Time Magazine Archive
In England she lapsed sufficiently from the rigid Salem standard to adopt a timid compromise; in Scotland we coaxed her into still further modernities, until now she is completely enfranchised.
From Penelope's Irish Experiences by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
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.
