modernist

[ mod-er-nist ]

noun

1. a person who follows or favors modern ways, tendencies, etc.
2. a person who advocates the study of modern subjects in preference to ancient classics.
3. an adherent of modernism in theological questions.

adjective

1. of modernists or modernism.

Other Words From

• anti·modern·ist noun adjective
• hyper·modern·ist noun
• pro·modern·ist adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of modernist¹

First recorded in 1580–90; modern + -ist

Example Sentences

Then came “Virginia,” the play about modernist writer Virginia Woolf in 1981.

From Los Angeles Times

"Van Gogh, here, is the first completely rule-breaking modernist and he just gets ever more radical," he said.

From BBC

The exterior door of the modernist ranch house originally designed by Kenneth Lind.

From Los Angeles Times

It would be hard to imagine a genre more antithetical to the modernist sensibility of Samuel Beckett than the biopic.

From Los Angeles Times

In hot water with Stalin for his more modernist music, with its gloom-and-doom sarcasm, the Russian composer needed a helping of straightforward Soviet glorification.

From Los Angeles Times