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

Example Sentences

Alfred Stieglitz began exhibiting photographs in New York in the early 1900s as part of his project of introducing modernism to America.

From Washington Post

Secular modernism has tried to get the fruits of the Jesus-message without the roots.

From Time

It’s that I think it might produce a new kind of literature, like the way modernism transformed the novel.

From Time

Having been taught Modernism, a school of thought that scoffs at the decorative, materials became his primary means of expression.

From The Daily Beast

European Jews gravitated toward modernism as a way to get away from history.

From The Daily Beast

What every fan of modernism may not know is that all of these designers were Jewish.

From The Daily Beast

In the early years—the 1920s and 1930s—modernism was seen as “out there.”

From The Daily Beast

In America, modernism was stripped of its socialist leanings.

From The Daily Beast

Immanence—Agnosticism is the negative side of Modernism; immanence constitutes its positive constituent.

From Project Gutenberg

That its measures were effective is evident from the history of Modernism in the last three years.

From Project Gutenberg

They are the quaint quintessence of conservatism, and will occupy youthful minds menaced by modernism.

From Project Gutenberg

Too angry to deny the convenient charge of "modernism," he sought the street.

From Project Gutenberg

He bowed his head, revolving in his mind the definite charge of "modernism."

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• modernization