Renaissance

[ ren-uh-sahns, -zahns, -sahns, ren-uh-sahns, -zahns, -sahns; especially British ri-ney-suhns ]

/ ˈrɛn əˌsɑns, -ˌzɑns, -ˌsɑ̃s, ˌrɛn əˈsɑns, -ˈzɑns, -ˈsɑ̃s; especially British rɪˈneɪ səns /

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See synonyms for Renaissance on Thesaurus.com

noun

the activity, spirit, or time of the great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world.

the forms and treatments in art used during this period.

Sometimes renaissance . any similar revival in the world of art and learning.

renaissance, a renewal of life, vigor, interest, etc.; rebirth; revival: a moral renaissance.

adjective

of, relating to, or suggestive of the European Renaissance of the 14th through the 17th centuries: Renaissance attitudes.

noting or pertaining to the group of architectural styles existing in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries as adaptations of ancient Roman architectural details or compositional forms to contemporary uses, characterized at first by the free and inventive use of isolated details, later by the more imitative use of whole orders and compositional arrangements, with great attention to the formulation of compositional rules after the precepts of Vitruvius and the precedents of existing ruins, and at all periods by an emphasis on symmetry, exact mathematical relationships between parts, and a general effect of simplicity and repose.

noting or pertaining to any of the various adaptations of this group of styles in foreign architecture characterized typically by the playful or grotesque use of isolated details in more or less traditional buildings.

noting or pertaining to the furnishings or decorations of the Renaissance, in which motifs of classical derivation frequently appear.

OTHER WORDS FOR Renaissance

4 resurgence, reawakening.

See synonyms for Renaissance on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of Renaissance

1830–40; <French, Middle French: rebirth, equivalent to renaiss- (stem of renaistre to be born again <Latin renāscī; re-re- + nāscī to be born) + -ance-ance

OTHER WORDS FROM Renaissance

an·ti-Ren·ais·sance, adjectivepost-Ren·ais·sance, adjectivepre-Ren·ais·sance, adjectivepro-Ren·ais·sance, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Renaissance in a sentence

He has picked pre-primary brawls with Christie, Perry, and Marco Rubio.
Rand Paul’s Passive-Aggressive Trolling Campaign|Olivia Nuzzi|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
At that time, pre -9/11, the links were more subtle and had to be hunted down.
ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Growing Role of Human Trafficking in 21st Century Terrorism|Louise I. Shelley|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While in pre-trial detention, Krivov undertook two hunger strikes.
Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015|Movements.Org|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
At his year-end, pre-Hawaii press conference, we caught a rare glimpse of peak Obama.
The Liberation of the Lame Duck: Obama Goes Full Bulworth|John Avlon|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Instead, the military commission proceedings are bogged down in a pre-trial phase, as it has been for the past three years.
Prosecutors Have No Idea When 9/11 Mastermind’s Trial Will Start|Tim Mak|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Spaniards, indeed, feigned to regard them only as a remnant of the rebels who had joined the pre-existing brigand bands.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
Doubtless the commentator habit is fixed in the nature of man; but it was pre-eminently mediaeval.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume II of II)|Henry Osborn Taylor
From pre-natal days I was destined for the railway service, as an oyster to its shell.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow
Dr. Wilson says, in the statistical accounts of Scotland, many of which are suggestive of a pre-Raleigh period.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Offered to Him that liveth for ever and ever, it celebrates his eternal pre-existence and existence to eternal ages.
The Ordinance of Covenanting|John Cunningham

British Dictionary definitions for Renaissance (1 of 2)

renaissance

renascence

/ (rəˈneɪsəns, US ˈrɛnəˌsɒns) /

noun

a revival or rebirth, esp of culture and learning

Word Origin for renaissance

C19: from French, from Latin re- + nascī to be born

British Dictionary definitions for Renaissance (2 of 2)

Renaissance

/ (rəˈneɪsəns, US ˈrɛnəˌsɒns) /

noun

the Renaissance the period of European history marking the waning of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world: usually considered as beginning in Italy in the 14th century

the spirit, culture, art, science, and thought of this period. Characteristics of the Renaissance are usually considered to include intensified classical scholarship, scientific and geographical discovery, a sense of individual human potentialities, and the assertion of the active and secular over the religious and contemplative life
(as modifier)Renaissance writers See also Early Renaissance, High Renaissance

adjective

of, characteristic of, or relating to the Renaissance, its culture, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Renaissance

Renaissance

The cultural rebirth that occurred in Europe from roughly the fourteenth through the middle of the seventeenth centuries, based on the rediscovery of the literature of Greece and Rome. During the Renaissance, America was discovered, and the Reformation began; modern times are often considered to have begun with the Renaissance. Major figures of the Renaissance include Galileo, William Shakespeare, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Renaissance means “rebirth” or “reawakening.”

notes for Renaissance

The term renaissance is often used to describe any revival or rediscovery.