mannerism

American  

[man-uh-riz-uhm] / ˈmæn əˌrɪz əm /

noun

• mannerisms
  plural

1. a habitual or characteristic manner, mode, or way of doing something; distinctive quality or style, as in behavior or speech.

   He has an annoying mannerism of tapping his fingers while he talks. They copied his literary mannerisms but always lacked his ebullience.

2. marked or excessive adherence to an unusual or a particular manner, especially if affected.

   Natural courtesy is a world apart from snobbish mannerism.

3. (usually initial capital letter) a style in the fine arts developed principally in Europe during the 16th century, chiefly characterized by a complex perspectival system, elongation of forms, strained gestures or poses of figures, and intense, often strident color.

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mannerism British  

/ ˈmænəˌrɪzəm /

noun

1. a distinctive and individual gesture or trait; idiosyncrasy

2. (often capital) a principally Italian movement in art and architecture between the High Renaissance and Baroque periods (1520–1600) that sought to represent an ideal of beauty rather than natural images of it, using characteristic distortion and exaggeration of human proportions, perspective, etc

3. adherence to a distinctive or affected manner, esp in art or literature

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mannerist
  noun
• manneristic
  adjective
• nonmanneristic
  adjective
• semimanneristic
  adjective
• manneristically
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mannerisms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mannerism

First recorded in 1795–1805; manner ¹ + -ism

Explanation

Does someone you know always shrug in a particular way or say "You know what I mean?" at the end of every sentence? Well, that's a mannerism, a habitual gesture or way of speaking. Generally, we don't use then term mannerism as a critical term for our friends' behavior, but when applied as a term of art criticism, it can be a negative thing. If a critic talks about a writer's mannerisms, for example, it's probably intended as an insult — suggesting they're writing in a lazy or clichéd way. However, Mannerism, with a capital "M," refers to a specific 16th-century Italian style of painting known for its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) effects.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mannerism mannerisms

Her style, which she described as “clear painting,” looks backward to mannerism and forward to futurism and has a high-gloss sheen to it, like the chrome plating of a motorcar.

From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2024

So much attention is on their similarities in their swings and other mannerism, but the needle and the trash talking is not to be overlooked.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2023

To help with the pronunciation, the inaugural show’s poster added a French accent aigu to the final letter — Ceejé — a mannerism that was soon dropped.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023

More than 850 people worked on recreating Abba "in their prime" using motion capture technology to scan "every mannerism and every motion" of the musicians, who are now in their 70s, as they performed.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2021

After that I didn’t pay any more attention to this mannerism of his, because I was absorbed by the feeling that the sun was doing me a lot of good.

From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus

Anthony Ippolito plays a young Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky, and was praised by audience members at the festival for capturing Stallone's posture, mannerisms and speech.

From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2026

He resembles the Finder icon on Apple computers, but with a tiny stature and goofy mannerisms.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

By his teen years in Annapolis, Md., Duvall had become an excellent mimic, absorbing dialects and mannerisms wherever he happened to be.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026

In “The Unknown,” he portrays not only Elliott but all the people he interacts with, and differentiates them crisply with convincing accents but without costume changes or flashy mannerisms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

They also changed their hairstyles, walks, jewelry, and mannerisms.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Related Words

• eccentricity
• idiosyncrasy
• quirk
• trait