purism

American  

[pyoor-iz-uhm] / ˈpjʊər ɪz əm /

noun

1. strict observance of or insistence on purity in language, style, etc.

2. an instance of this.

3. Fine Arts. Often Purism a style of art developed in France in the early 20th century, characterized by the use of simple geometric forms and images evocative of objects produced by machine.

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purism British  

/ ˈpjʊəˌrɪzəm /

noun

1. insistence on traditional canons of correctness of form or purity of style or content, esp in language, art, or music

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Other Word Forms

• purist
  noun
• purist
  adjective
• puristic
  adjective
• puristically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of purism

First recorded in 1795–1805; pure + -ism

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

purism

“There’s no point of having some kind of a revolutionary purism that you should only preach to the choir. That would be completely pointless,” Malm said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2023

An expanded version of the album included some radical electronic remixes of songs that had been hand-played, signaling that Porridge Radio had no interest in guitar-band purism.

From New York Times ● May 18, 2022

Meanwhile, it says domestic purism should be promoted to lessen consumer demand for international flights.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2021

Nowadays, Arellano balances his appreciation for Kennedy with concerns about her purism.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 17, 2020

The third party took the name of Peter, or Cephas, as in their Hebrew purism they preferred to call him.

From The Life of St. Paul by Stalker, James