classicism

[ klas-uh-siz-uhm ]

noun

1. the principles or styles characteristic of the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome.
2. adherence to such principles.
3. the classical style in literature and art, or adherence to its principles ( romanticism ). Compare classical ( def 7 ).
4. a Greek or Latin idiom or form, especially one used in some other language.
5. classical scholarship or learning.

classicism

/ ˈklæsɪˌsɪzəm; ˈklæsɪkəˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. a style based on the study of Greek and Roman models, characterized by emotional restraint and regularity of form, associated esp with the 18th century in Europe; the antithesis of romanticism Compare neoclassicism
2. knowledge or study of the culture of ancient Greece and Rome
3. 1. a Greek or Latin form or expression
   2. an expression in a modern language, such as English, that is modelled on a Greek or Latin form

classicism

1. An approach to aesthetics that favors restraint, rationality, and the use of strict forms in literature, painting, architecture, and other arts. It flourished in ancient Greece and Rome , and throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Classicists often derived their models from the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Notes

Classicism is sometimes considered the opposite of romanticism .

Other Words From

• clas·si·cis·tic [klas-, uh, -, sis, -tik], adjective
• anti·classi·cal·ism noun
• anti·classi·cism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of classicism¹

First recorded in 1820–30; classic + -ism

Example Sentences

Designed by a team of architects, it blends elements of classicism with modernity.

From Los Angeles Times

So, there is a classicism aspect to it.

From Los Angeles Times

“The Great Lillian Hall” is not afraid to embrace its classicism; had it been made in the 1940s, it would have starred Bette Davis.

From New York Times

The artist, now 89, draws from the improvisatory impulses of jazz, the power of Abstract Expressionism, the eclectic excessiveness of assemblage and the academic classicism of Renaissance painting.

From New York Times

Unplanned, mismatched buildings sprout like fungus among the grid of its streets, whose orderly classicism is often disrupted by tectonically induced hills.

From New York Times

Related Words

• grandeur