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• zeitgeist
  zeitgeist

  noun

  Sometimes Zeitgeist the spirit of the time; the general trend of thought, feeling, or tastes characteristic of a particular period of time.
• Zeitgeist
  Zeitgeist

  The general moral, intellectual, and cultural climate of an era; Zeitgeist is German for “time-spirit.” For example, the Zeitgeist of England in the Victorian period included a belief in industrial progress, and the Zeitgeist of the 1980s in the United States was a belief in the power of money and the many ways in which to spend it.

zeitgeist

American  

[tsahyt-, zahyt-gahyst] / ˈtsaɪt-, ˈzaɪtˌgaɪst /

noun

1. Sometimes Zeitgeist the spirit of the time; the general trend of thought, feeling, or tastes characteristic of a particular period of time.

   It’s one of those iconic novels that represents the zeitgeist of the mid-1990s so perfectly that reading it provides the ideal dose of nostalgia.

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zeitgeist British  

/ ˈzaɪtˌɡaɪst /

noun

1. the spirit, attitude, or general outlook of a specific time or period, esp as it is reflected in literature, philosophy, etc

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Zeitgeist Cultural  

1. The general moral, intellectual, and cultural climate of an era; Zeitgeist is German for “time-spirit.” For example, the Zeitgeist of England in the Victorian period included a belief in industrial progress, and the Zeitgeist of the 1980s in the United States was a belief in the power of money and the many ways in which to spend it.

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Usage

What does zeitgeist mean? The zeitgeist is the collective attitude or outlook of people or a culture at a specific point in time. Zeitgeist can be used in discussion of the current moment, a narrow period of time  in the past, or a broader period or era. Literature and other media are sometimes said to express the Zeitgeist of the time they were created in or of a past period of time. The word is capitalized in its original language, German, and is sometimes capitalized in English (Zeitgeist). Example: The zeitgeist at the time was a feeling that anything was possible.

Etymology

Origin of zeitgeist

First recorded in 1840–50; from German Zeitgeist, equivalent to Zeit “time, age, epoch” + Geist “spirit, mind, intellect”; cf. tide ¹ ( def. ), ghost ( def. )

Example Sentences

The prose will be aimed less at the high-falutin readers of literary magazines and more at young people with an interest in the cultural zeitgeist.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

That’s a far cry from the $162-million opening haul of “Barbie,” but box-office analysts say that film captured the cultural zeitgeist in a way that’s hard to replicate.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026

The show, which ran from 2004 to 2007 on NBC, was emblematic of the true-crime-obsessed, tabloid-fueled zeitgeist of the aughts.

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026

But the zeitgeist around the internet was that it would connect the world and improve lives.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026

And this active province of Béarn kept pace; it opened quickly to the new influences, was alive to the changing zeitgeist.

From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Dix, Edwin Asa