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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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noun
adjective

OTHER WORDS FOR Renaissance

4 resurgence, reawakening.
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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

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
  1. 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
  2. (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.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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