presentism
Americannoun
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the centering of present-day attitudes, values, and concepts in the interpretation of historical events.
Presentism and failure to understand the political themes of the book in their historical context have led to many poorly informed modern criticisms of it.
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Philosophy. the metaphysical doctrine that only things that are present exist.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of presentism
First recorded in 1915–20; present 1 ( def. ) + -ism ( def. )
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.
The much harder work is getting out of survival mode — the all-consuming pressures of eternal presentism and perpetual crisis — and into a mode and discipline of building what comes after.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026
That said, perspective is important in history and I don't believe in "presentism," the idea that we can hold people who lived in other times to the moral and legal standards of our own.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2023
Sweet then turned to the “elephant in the room,” the debate over presentism.
From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2023
The second principle—“Was the relevant principal legacy significantly contested in the time and place in which the namesake lived?”—hopes to mitigate presentism.
From Slate ● Dec. 2, 2016
That kind of presentism is a delicate lifeline.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 16, 2016
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.
