modernism

[ mod-er-niz-uhm ]

noun

1. modern character, tendencies, or values; adherence to or sympathy with what is modern.
2. a modern usage or characteristic.
3. (initial capital letter) Theology.
   1. the movement in Roman Catholic thought that sought to interpret the teachings of the Church in the light of philosophic and scientific conceptions prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: condemned by Pope Pius X in 1907.
   2. the liberal theological tendency in Protestantism in the 20th century.
4. (sometimes initial capital letter) a deliberate philosophical and practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring especially in the course of the 20th century and taking form in any of various innovative movements and styles.

modernism

/ ˈmɒdəˌnɪzəm /

noun

1. modern tendencies, characteristics, thoughts, etc, or the support of these
2. something typical of contemporary life or thought
3. a 20th-century divergence in the arts from previous traditions, esp in architecture See International Style
4. capital RC Church the movement at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries that sought to adapt doctrine to the supposed requirements of modern thought

Derived Forms

• ˌmodernˈistic, adjective
• ˈmodernist, nounadjective
• ˌmodernˈistically, adverb

Other Words From

• anti·modern·ism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of modernism¹

First recorded in 1730–40; modern + -ism

Related Words

• modernization