Renaissance

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

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

SEE MORE 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 lowercase) any similar revival in the world of art and learning.

(lowercase) 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.

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

SYNONYMS FOR Renaissance

4 resurgence, reawakening.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR Renaissance ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

post-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. 2019

Examples from the Web for renaissance

The cardinals had such a bad reputation that the very term “cardinal” became an insult in Renaissance Rome.
Great Renaissance Art Thrived Amid Filth|Nick Romeo|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It may not be a story the Vatican wants told, but such nasty behavior is also a part of the Renaissance.
Great Renaissance Art Thrived Amid Filth|Nick Romeo|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the flaws and peccadilloes of Renaissance artists like Michelangelo pale beside the misdeeds of patrons and pontiffs.
Great Renaissance Art Thrived Amid Filth|Nick Romeo|December 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There has been something of a Biba renaissance in recent years.
Barbara Hulanicki, Queen of Fast Fashion|Lizzie Crocker|October 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST

After brief runs in community theater and college, she hit the road with a Renaissance fair troupe.
Best Career Arc Ever: From Burlesque To Bartending|Anne Berry|September 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The great poets of the Renaissance both in England and in Italy had a similar craving.
Literary and General Lectures and Essays|Charles Kingsley
He could study the ancients with the young eyes of the Renaissance and read a Greek grammar like a book of love lyrics.
Varied Types|G. K. Chesterton
And its penchant for Renaissance canons only emphasizes the absolute commonplace of many of these.
French Art|W. C. Brownell
A true son of the Renaissance, he finds entertainment or instruction in communing with the best of antiquity.
Fray Luis de Len|James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
The first of these was characterized by the predominance of Renaissance factors over those which were more properly plateresque.
A History of Spain|Charles E. Chapman

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

Culture 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.”

Note

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