classicaladj.n.
/ˈklasᵻkl/, U.S. /ˈklæsək(ə)l/ A. adj.† 4. Of or relating to a class or classes, or a division into different classes. Obsolete.With quot. 1629 cf. class n. 1.† 6. Of or relating to a ship. Obsolete.† 8. = classic adj. 3b. Obsolete and rare.
1.
a. Of or relating to the ancient Greek or Latin writers whose works form a canon of acknowledged excellence; of or relating to the works themselves. Hence: of or relating to ancient Greek or Latin literature in general.Classical may refer specifically to the periods considered to represent the greatest flowering of both ancient Greek (Attic Greek of the 4th and 5th cent. b.c.) and Latin (1st cent. b.c. to 2nd cent. a.d.) language and civilization, but frequently refers more generally to the literature and writers of Greek and Roman antiquity as a whole.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > specific movement or period
classical1546
pastoral1566
classic1597
Medicean1652
romantic1812
tedesco1814
realistic1829
realista1832
pseudo-classic1833
classicist1838
pseudo-classical1838
renaissant1839
modernist1848
post-classic1850
post-classical1851
pseudo-Gothic1853
classicizing1865
classicistic1866
serio-grotesque1873
geometric1877
neoclassical1877
modernistic1878
neoclassic1878
pseudo-archaic1878
William Morris1883
protocorinthian1884
veristic1884
William and Mary1886
Yuan1888
romanticistic1889
veritistic1894
auto-destructive1895
pre-Romantic1895
Trajanic1906
neo-realistic1909
New Romantic1909
neo-realist1912
futuristic1915
postmodern1916
Dada1918
Dadaist1918
surrealist1918
proto-Romantic1920
expressionistic1921
modernista1924
super-realist1925
superrealistic1925
postmodernist1926
proto-Baroque1926
post-symbolist1927
pre-modernist1927
surrealistic1930
Renaissancist1932
Colonial Revival1934
neo-baroque1935
socialist-realist1935
social realist1949
social realistic1949
kitchen sink1954
William IV1955
formalistic1957
Zhdanovite1957
neo-Dadaist1960
neo-modernist1960
William Morrisy1960
neo-Dada1962
Zhdanovist1966
conceptual1969
conceptualist1973
po-mo1987
pathetic1990
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary world > [adjective] > literary period
classical1546
preclassic1869
Gustavian1884
silver1889
pre-classical1948
Sangam1955
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > fame or renown > famous or eminent person > [adjective] > historically famous
olda1325
classical1546
classic1787
1546 W. Peryn Thre Serm. (new ed.) iii. sig. K.viiiv The whych myracles, are not fayned of late yeares, but were wrytten, many hundred yeares agone, & that by classicall and auncient wryters.
1597 A. Hartwell in tr. D. Lopes Rep. Kingdome of Congo To Rdr. sig. *2v When they publish any of the foresayd Triumuiri [sc. Cicero, Caesar or Sallust], or any other Classicall Author, they will..foyst into the Text many words and many conceytes.
1611 T. Coryate Crambe 34 Carthaginians..haue bene branded by many classicall historiographers with the infamous marke of eternall dishonour.
1688 T. Salmon Proposal to perform Musick ii. 13 It is best to treat of them in that method, which our Authors used in the Classical times, because 'tis their Perfection we are now aiming at.
1757 ‘T. Botanista’ Rural Beauties Introd., p. xiii The Classical Poets chiefly endeavour to paint the outward figure.
1810 Edinb. Rev. 15 No. 29. 43 Classical quotations are the watchwords of scholars, by which they distinguish each other from the ignorant and the illiterate.
1863 W. Jenks Comprehen. Comm. Holy Bible 322/1 This sense..is supposed to be Hellenistical, as it is never found in the classical writers.
1911 Polit. Sci. Q. 26 683 The names of about a dozen Illyrian tribes occur in classical literature.
1948 K. Malone Middle Ages i. 28 The technic of adornment or elaboration was essentially the same in pre-classical and classical poetry.
2002 N. Drury Dict. Esoteric 90/2 Other classical writers located Elysium in the Underworld.
b. gen. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Greek or Roman antiquity.
ΚΠ
1683 R. Dixon Canidia iii. xvi. 136 We find in Classical Records, The Lawyers then were Roman Lords.
1751 W. Warburton in Wks. of Alexander Pope III. 267 (note) A new species of Architecture unknown to Greece and Rome; upon original principles, and ideas much nobler that what had given birth even to classical magnificence.
1797 R. Warner Illustr. Rom. Antiq. discovered at Bath Introd. p. xvii The numerous remains of classical architecture..prove, beyond a doubt, that it [sc. Bath] must have been a magnificent city.
1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands I. 93 The three centuries and a half during which classical paganism was the recognised religion of the empire.
1890 W. Smith et al. Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. (ed. 3) I. 573 The ‘cunicular’ drainage of Latium and Southern Etruria belongs rather to the pre-historic antiquities of Italy than to classical times.
1905 Burlington Mag. Dec. 155/1 It is proposed to deal with some points of artistic interest connected with the Greek female dress of the classical period.
1953 W. Durant Renaissance xxi. 622 He..walled up the Belvedere Palace, which contained Europe's first collection of classical sculpture.
2004 Daily Tel. 2 Aug. 13 Films such as Troy and Alexander—and the Olympic Games—have inspired many designers to revive the classical style recently.
c. Of learning, education, etc.: relating to or based on the literature and civilization of the ancient Greek and Roman world.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > historical period > [adjective] > of Greek or Roman antiquity
classic1597
ancient1605
Constantinian1641
classical1691
post-classical1851
pre-classical1860
pre-Roman1863
post-Roman1865
preclassic1869
Hadrianic1886
Protogeometric1914
sub-Roman1932
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [adjective] > specific types of literature > ancient classical
humane1552
classical1691
1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 414 Simon Wastell..being accounted a great proficient in classical learning and Poetry, was made Master of the Free-School at Northampton.
1774 W. Mitford Ess. Harmony Lang. 172 The spreading of classical learning had not at first that general effect in euphonizing our language which might have been expected.
1789 Loiterer 21 Mar. 4 In the nine succeeding years, I compleated my classical education.
1837 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe I. i. 2 That learning which had been accumulated in the Latin and Greek languages, and which we call ancient or classical.
1839 Ld. Brougham Hist. Sketches Statesmen George III 1st Ser. 210 He [sc. Sheridan] brought away from school a very slender provision of classical learning.
1876 J. Grant Hist. Burgh Schools Scotl. ii. xiii. 346 The thorough character of the classical instruction imparted at our higher grammar Schools.
1932 J. Buchan Sir Walter Scott ii. 37 Dalzell used to maintain that Presbytery had killed classical scholarship in Scotland.
2004 Oxf. Rev. Educ. 30 588 The universities..continued to educate a social élite; they continued to uphold the ideal of a classical education.
d. Specializing or learned in the literature or civilization of ancient Greek and Roman antiquity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [adjective] > learned in the Classics
classical1711
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 147. ⁋2 These are often pretty classical Scholars, and would think it an unpardonable Sin to read Virgil or Martial with so little Taste as they do Divine Service.
1802 T. F. Dibdin Introd. Knowl. Rare Ed. Classics 20 (note) The Classical World is no doubt aware, etc.
1845 S. Austin tr. L. von Ranke Hist. Reformation in Germany (ed. 2) II. iv. i. 315 He belonged to the classical school of Italy of that time.
1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life iii. viii. 112 The modern linguist can never fence himself behind that stately unquestionableness which shields the Classical scholar.
1931 P. S. Allen Medieval Lat. Lyrics iv. 80 Irish soldiers for Christ and adventure—classical scholars, pilgrims and peregrines.
1980 M. Boulton Anat. Lit. Stud. xii. 123 The student in your year reading Classics is no more a classical scholar than you are yet an English scholar.
2002 A. L. Golden Thomas Jefferson & Rhetoric of Virtue i. v. 96 As a classical student..throughout his life, Jefferson believed strongly in the advantages that could be experienced by those who studied Greek and Latin.
2.
a. Constituting an acknowledged standard or model; = classic adj. 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > pre-eminence > [adjective] > of highest rank or importance
classical1599
classic1604
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [adjective] > monumental or classic
classic1597
classical1599
monumental1894
1599 T. Bilson Effect Certaine Serm. 366 If you intende an article of the faith, pagans and Poets are no such classicall masters, to be cited or followed in the mysteries of christian religion.
1610 Bp. J. Hall Sixt Decade i. 4 in Epist. (1611) III. Those later Doctors, which want nothing but age to make them classicall.
1629 E. Sandys Europæ Speculum 91 This man..is now..alleaged as classicall and Canonicall.
1673 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd II. 388 When Doctor Heylin's Divinity shall go for orthodox..you may then..be reputed a Classical Author.
1743 J. Lockman in tr. Trav. Jesuits II. 388 (note) The four Ages of our Heathen classical Poets [sc. Brahmins].
1779 Mirror No. 6. ⁋10 The classical writers of ancient and modern times, but especially the former, were those from whose works he felt the highest pleasure.
1808 L. Murray Eng. Gram. Illustr. I. App. i. 405 Classical authority consists of speakers and writers, who are deservedly in high estimation.
1868 J. E. T. Rogers Man. Polit. Econ. xxi. 269 Those rules of taxation which have been laid down by Adam Smith and have become classical.
1947 S. A. Stigant Mod. Electr. Engin. Math. xii. 245 The late Charles Le Grand Fortescue, who, in 1918, presented his now classical paper..in New York.
1957 R. N. C. Hunt Guide to Communist Jargon xxxii. 110 Party-mindedness..was given its classical formulation by Lenin in..the middle 'nineties.
1988 D. Bentley in G. Lynch & D. Rampton Canad. Ess. (1991) 323 The classical statement of the Modern Canadian poet's rejection of that culture is Scott's ‘The Canadian Authors Meet’, first published in 1927.
b. Representative, typical; archetypal, traditional; = classic adj. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > conformity to or with a pattern, etc. > [adjective] > conforming to a standard rule > standard
canonical1553
canonial1589
normal1598
standard1603
legitimate1615
classic1648
legitime1651
classical1751
canonic1850
normative1852
1751 W. Warburton in Wks. of Alexander Pope I. 187 For that this is a most classical proof of his great value, who doubts?
1814 Scots Mag. Jan. 51/1 The heroic couplet, which, after all, is the classical English stanza, is the one of which Lord Byron is the most completely master.
1898 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics Oct. 38 A classical example of this attitude is to be seen in the long controversy..between Professor Huxley and the Duke of Argyle.
1938 B. Schönberg tr. C. Sachs World Hist. Dance vii. 337 The classical number of participants in the Morris Dance, six, was once the same for the Spanish cathedral dance.
1980 Black Belt June 52/2 I'm not knocking classical karate, I just say that it's not the most efficient way to learn how to fight.
2006 Daily Tel. 6 June 24/1 Here's a classical example of a potentially moving play ruined by insufferable arty-fartyness.
3. Of or relating to a division or classis in a Presbyterian church (see classis n. 1); belonging to this system of church organization; Presbyterian. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > ecclesiastical discipline > court > presbyterian > [adjective] > presbytery
consistorial1561
presbyterial1591
consistorian1593
classical1607
Presbyterian1607
classic1646
presbyteral1651
1607 T. Rogers Faith, Doctr., & Relig. 201 To take newe callings from classicall ministers, renouncing their calling from Bishops.
1647 Propositions Church Govt. (Westm. Assembly) 9 By severall sorts of Assemblies, which are Congregationall, Classical, and Synodicall.
1674 T. Good Firmianus & Dubitantius vii. 119 These were the great scandals at which I somtimes stumbled and fell from the Communion of the Church, into the Congregation of our Classical Brethren.
1700 W. Nicolson Let. 15 Mar. (1809) I. 166 Mr. Baxter..takes great pains to unite the Classical and Congregational brethren, but claws off the Episcopal party.
1736 D. Neal Hist. Puritans III. 385 The City and Suburbs of London had been formed into a Province, and divided into twelve classical Presbyteries.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 158 The Independents had no disposition to enforce the ordinances touching classical, provincial, and national synods.
1969 Past & Present Aug. 60 Parliament..provided for two completely different methods for selecting the membership of the classical presbyteries.
2003 Canad. Jrnl. Hist. (Nexis) 38 The MPs..spoke of a mechanism of appeal through classical synods and ultimately to Parliament itself.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > aristocracy or upper class > [adjective]
aristocratic1596
select1602
qualified1604
patrician?1614
classical1629
aristocratical1742
ruffle-shirted1805
connected1817
thoroughbred1821
upper1825
eupatrid1833
optimate1846
classy1870
silver-tailed1890
upper-bracket1945
upscale1966
1629 W. Crosse tr. Sallust Warre of Iugurth xxiii, in tr. Sallust Wks. 496 He himselfe in the meane time inrolleth Souldiers, not after the ancient custome, nor out of the classicall numbers, but for the most part Voluntiers mustred by the poale.
1640 J. Howell Δενδρολογια 85 Their classicall distinctions, cavills, quiddities..transformd her to a meere kinde of sophistry and logomachy.
1658 tr. G. della Porta Nat. Magick xx. 395 (heading) The Chaos, wherein the Experiments are set down without any Classical Order.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Botany Tab. 1 Tournefort's Classical Characters of Flowers.
1757 J. Hill Eden 66/2 Under this classical Distinction, the Plants which are very numerous are ranged in several Orders.
1819 A. Rees Cycl. VIII. at Classification To seek for classical characters from other parts of a plant.
1821 J. Bentham Elements Art of Packing 223 A contention between opposite classical partialities.
5. Of or relating to a period considered the most highly developed of the civilization that produced it; designating such a period; spec. of or relating to the form of a language established during the most highly developed stage of its early history; designating this form of a language; cf. classical language n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [adjective] > relating to culture > at its peak
classicala1634
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary world > [adjective] > literary period > most perfect part of
classical1899
a1634 W. Noye Treat. Grounds & Maximes Lawes (1651) 140 I see no reason why any man should object or cavil against the usage of such words, though they be not classical.
1724 L. Welsted Epist. Ep. Ded. p. vii That Standard or Perfection, that denominates a Classical Age.
1777 N. Brit. Intelligencer 26 Mar. 401/1 Her readers will meet with pure classical French.
1813 Q. Rev. 258 German, Himina. Alemannish, Himil. Classical German, Himmel.
1899 W. G. Aston Hist. Japanese Lit. (1972) 187 A phrase which is constantly recurring in Japanese literature, especially during the classical period.
1934 W. O. E. Oesterley & T. H. Robinson Introd. Bks. of Old Test. 373 Modes of expression which are alien to classical Hebrew..are perhaps the most telling signs of late composition.
1949 Oxf. Classical Dict. 272/2 In the first century the archaist revival we know as Atticism strove to approximate the language of prose literature to that of classical Attic.
1969 Language 45 690 Classical Chinese, wényán, which has been used from antiquity up to recent years.
1999 E. Milanesi Carpet 108/1 Kashan carpets emulate ancient compositions and classical Persian decorations.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [adjective]
shippish1530
marine1551
navigable1597
marinal1620
navigatory1650
classical1656
navicular1656
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Classical, pertaining to a ship.
7. Characterized by adherence to established stylistic forms, and by harmony, balance, and restraint, believed to be exemplified in the classics of Greek and Roman antiquity. Frequently opposed to romantic.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [adjective] > general
classical1784
non-naturalist1950
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary world > [adjective] > literary movement, school, or theory
classic1743
classical1784
Alexandrian1803
romantic1812
realistic1829
realista1832
romanticist1831
symbolistic1864
symbolistical1864
neo-romantic1875
naturalistic1876
Alexandrine1877
neoclassical1877
veristic1884
impressionistic1886
impressionary1889
romanticistic1889
sensitivist1891
veritistic1894
Félibrian1908
symbolic1910
vorticist1914
Dada1918
Dadaist1918
surrealist1918
postmodernist1926
surrealistic1930
ultraist1931
socialist-realist1935
lettrist1947
social realist1949
social realistic1949
formalist1955
1784 W. Combe Orig. Love-lett. II. 229 Such a classical landscape assemblage, both for foreground and distance, I never saw.
1813 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 206 The poetry of the Spanish peninsula seems to have been more romantic and less subject to classical bondage than that of any other part of Europe.
1820 Ld. Byron Ded. to Goethe 14 Oct. in Lett. & Jrnls. (1830) II. 358 I perceive that in Germany as well as in Italy, there is a great struggle about what they call Classical and Romantic.
1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 246 A school of art properly called ‘classical’... The school is, therefore, generally to be characterized as that of taste and restraint.
1885 J. C. Fillmore Pianof. Music 47 The classical ideal is predominantly an intellectual one. Its products are characterised by clearness of thought, by completeness and symmetry, by harmonious proportion, by simplicity and repose.
a1917 T. E. Hulme Speculations (1924) 133 I prophesy that a period of dry, hard, classical verse is coming.
1981 R. G. Myers Connecting Worlds 86 These art forms are defined and constrained by classical rules, but successful performance depends upon the ability of artists to improvise.
2000 A. Mason in A. Hastings et al. Oxf. Compan. Christian Thought 627/2 Much of Romanticism is simply rebellion against classical correctness.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > [adjective] > mentioned in stories
classic1787
classical1820
1820 W. Scott Monastery I. v. 171 The many fine bridges which have since been built across that classical stream [sc. the Tweed].
9. Of music: of acknowledged excellence; of, relating to, or characteristic of a formal musical tradition, as distinguished from popular or folk music; spec. of or relating to formal European music of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, characterized by harmony, balance, and adherence to established compositional forms.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [adjective] > classical or serious
classical1829
legit1908
legitimate1913
straight1926
longhair1938
serious1960
1829 V. Novello Diary 26 July in V. Novello & M. Novello Mozart Pilgrimage (1955) 181 This is the place I should come to every Sunday when I wished to hear classical music correctly and judiciously performed.
1856 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 18 July 605/2 The Limerick Harmonic Society is now furnished with a concert room, where classical music can be heard by a large audience.
1885 J. C. Fillmore Pianof. Music 79–80 In classical music..form is first and emotional content subordinate; in romantic music content is first and form subordinate.
1920 A. W. Locke Music & Romantic Movement in France iii. 80 Adapting his ideas to the stereotyped formulas of the classical sonata.
1926 P. Whiteman & M. M. McBride Jazz viii. 181 Jazzists chuckle over lowbrows who say they can't abide classical music.
1948 B. Bose Acre of Green Grass 41 In classical Indian music..words are no more than pleasing containers of..the melodic pattern.
1978 R. R. Smith in I. Pleyel Periodical Symphonies p. viii The classical style found most commonly in the works of Haydn and Mozart.
2001 Village Voice (N.Y.) 27 Nov. 62/1 The music of the old Ottoman court, with its roots deep in classical Arabic and Persian music.
2004 Independent 8 Mar. 12/1 Those who move between opera and pop should not be known as classical musicians.
10. Of or designating a style of ballet characterized by light, graceful movement, esp. with the legs turned out in the hip sockets, and by the women dancing on pointe.Classical ballet is based on the traditional technique evolved from the French Court ballet of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Italian schools of the 19th cent., and the Russian Imperial Academy of Dancing.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > ballet > [adjective] > type of ballet
romantic1798
classical1909
1909 Times 7 July 9/6 The contrast between individual and collective dancing, which is of the essence of the classical ballet, was almost entirely absent.
1928 A. L. Haskell Some Stud. in Ballet 16 The classical ballet was pure dancing and nothing else.
1957 G. B. L. Wilson Dict. Ballet 75 Classical ballet, ballet in which dramatic or emotional content is subordinate to form or line.
1971 J. Matthews in J. Kobal Gotta sing, gotta Dance 100/1 I was a classical dancer, and I added to the classical arabesques, the high kicks of musical comedy.
2007 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 16 Sept. ii. 7/1 The dances recorded in Feuillet notation are clearly the precursors of classical ballet.
11.
a. Physics. Designating physics and mechanics as established before the introduction of relativity and quantum theory; belonging to or based on these. Cf. Newtonian adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > [adjective] > relating to physics > specific period
post-Newtonian1865
classical1909
1909 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 83 90 It may perhaps be justified by a cyclical argument, after the manner of Carnot's principle in the classical thermodynamics.
1914 L. Silberstein Theory of Relativity i. 1 Before entering upon..the modern doctrine of Relativity.., it seems desirable to dwell a little on the more familiar ground of what might be called the classical relativity.
1928 A. S. Eddington Nature Physical World ix. 193 For the last fifteen years we have used classical laws and quantum laws alongside one another notwithstanding the irreconcilability of their conceptions.
1938 R. W. Lawson tr. G. von Hevesy & F. A. Paneth Man. Radioactivity (ed. 2) viii. 90 Classical physics is thus revealed as a limiting case of quantum physics.
1958 P. A. M. Dirac Princ. Quantum Mech. (ed. 4) p. vii The classical tradition has been to consider the world to be an association of observable objects (particles, fluids, fields, etc.) moving about according to definite laws of force, so that one could form a mental picture..of the whole scheme.
1992 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) June 80/1 A contracting star would..collapse to such a point known as a singularity—a point at which the classical rules of physics would no longer apply.
2004 K. Nakamura & T. Harayama Quantum Chaos & Quantum Dots i. 4 Bohr's correspondence principle..claims that the descriptions by classical and quantum mechanics should give the same result when they describe the same macroscopic system.
b. Computing. Designating computers and computational technology in which each unit of information is represented electronically as a definite binary value. Contrasted with quantum computer n. at quantum n. and adj. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1985 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 400 97 Two classical deterministic computing machines are ‘computationally equivalent’..if they compute the same function under those labellings.
1997 New Scientist 15 Nov. 10/3 True quantum computing is not yet a practical possibility, however, so HP is going for the next best thing: classical computing using quantum mechanical components.
1998 Daily Tel. (Electronic ed.) 26 Nov. Quantum computers..could out-perform ‘classical’ computers as thoroughly as conventional PCs have beaten the abacus.
B. n.
With the. That which is classical (esp. in sense A. 7).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > the arts in general > [noun] > specific movement or period
cinquecento1762
classicality1784
romanticism1821
classicism1827
Renaissance1836
classicalism1840
Queen Anne1863
classic1864
renascence1868
classical1875
modernism1879
New Romanticism1885
Colonial Revival1887
shogun1889
super-realism1890
verism1892
neoclassicism1893
veritism1894
social realism1898
camerata1900
peasantism1903
proto-Renaissance1903
Biedermeier1905
expressionism1908
futurism1909
Georgianism1911
Dada1918
Dadaism1918
German expressionism1920
expressionismus1925
Negro Renaissance1925
super-realism1925
settecento1926
surrealism1927
Neue Sachlichkeit1929
Sachlichkeit1930
neo-Gothicism1932
socialist realism1933
modernismus1934
Harlem Renaissance1940
organicism1945
avant-gardism1950
nouvelle vague1959
bricolage1960
kitchen-sinkery1964
black art1965
neo-modernism1966
Yuan1969
conceptualism1970
sound art1972
pre-modernism1976
Afrofuturism1993
1875 M. E. Braddon Hostages to Fortune I. ii. 60 Whether it went in for ribbon-bordering and bedding-out plants, or essayed the classical.
1885 J. C. Fillmore Pianof. Music 47 They [sc. Mozart's piano compositions] were not remarkable for strong contrasts, but contrast is not of the essential nature of the classical.
1920 A. Huxley Limbo 261 The ephemeral overwhelms the permanent, the classical.
2002 Guardian 6 July (Guide Suppl.) 24/1 Their contemporaries..regard their musings as a rare chalice amid the dross, rock that borders on the classical.
Compounds
C1.
classical-minded adj.
ΚΠ
1845 J. T. Graves Rom. Law in Encycl. Metrop. 748/1 The classical-minded Italians of the 16th century.
1940 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 83 517 Even in 1917 he was a classical-minded conservative, a backward looker.
1994 C. R. Lounsbury Illustr. Gloss. Early Southern Archit. & Landscape 252 In the 18th century, classical-minded architects and authors in England preferred this term.
C2.
Classical Arabic n. the Arabic language of the literary writings of the classical period, esp. that of the Qur'an; (also) a variety of Arabic based on this, used after this period for formal (esp. written) purposes; abbreviated CA.
ΚΠ
1839 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 476 The literary world is not ready for a classical Arabic lexicon. Nor will it ever be, till, for Christian purposes, it needs authors to write in that language.
1899 Amer. Jrnl. Semitic Lang. & Lit. 15 252 What was the relation of that spoken tongue to classical Arabic, whether they coincided or the one was an artificial form of the other, is still unknown.
1955 Studia Islamica 4 20 At least since the end of the Umayyad period, Classical Arabic was not a spoken language, and like all purely literary idioms, naturally conservative.
1996 Eng. Today 12 13/1 Classical Arabic (CA) is used in all religious matters, academic lectures, ‘higher’ literary productions, and political speeches.
2006 N.Y. Times 1 Nov. e8/2 He [sc. Guillaume Postel] produced the first grammar of classical Arabic in Europe and, in other works, introduced Europeans to the life of Muhammad, the history of Islam and the culture of Ottoman Turks.
classical Cepheid n. Astronomy a Cepheid belonging to a subcategory typified by the star δ Cephei (also called type I Cepheids), used to establish a period–luminosity relation for stars with a similar variability pattern, which subcategory comprises population I stars typically having a period of 5–10 days (as contrasted with type II Cepheids, which are population II stars with generally longer periods and lower luminosity).The Cepheid period–luminosity relation is used for determining extragalactic distances up to 15 megaparsecs (the Virgo Cluster).
ΚΠ
1928 H. Shapley in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 14 961 The long period variable is a high luminosity star, probably as bright visually as the average classical Cepheid.
1993 Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacific 105 836/1 Z Lacertae is a classical Cepheid with a period of 11 days.
classical conditioning n. Psychology a learning process that occurs when two stimuli (one significant and one neutral) are repeatedly paired in order to elicit a desired response, ultimately resulting in the response being elicited by the presence of the neutral stimulus only; cf. Pavlovian adj. 1.
ΚΠ
1941 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 46 912 Most sociologists who talk and write about stimulus-response psychology seem to have the idea that the only important datum is the classical conditioning experiment.
2005 T. Grandin & C. Johnson Animals in Transl. vi. 249 Classical conditioning works with innate, reflexive responses like eye blinks and salivation.
classical economics n. the economics derived from a number of primarily British theorists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, characterized by the belief that economic decisions are made rationally on the basis of self-interest, and that markets should generally be unregulated.Theorists associated with this school include Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, and David Ricardo.
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society > trade and finance > management of money > management of national resources > [noun] > political economy > branches or models of
statics1848
classical economics1885
bioeconomics1913
welfare economics1920
econometry1926
econometrics1931
microeconomics1943
macroeconomics1945
development economics1959
microsimulation1966
public choice1968
1885 J. K. Ingram in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 375/2 The value of most of the theorems of the classical economics is a good deal attenuated by the habitual assumptions that we are dealing with ‘economic men’.
1934 Amer. Econ. Rev. 24 96 The representatives of classical economics regarded maximum welfare as a result of producing the greatest possible amount of wealth.
2005 Washington Post 1 May (Book World section) 2/5 Behavioral economics..attempts to combine the pure-logic tools of classical economics with understanding the emotional impulses of human behavior.
classical economist n. a proponent of classical economics.
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society > trade and finance > management of money > management of national resources > [noun] > political economy > branches or models of > one who studies or writes about
classical economist1871
agro-economist1930
econometrician1931
econometrist1934
neo-Keynesian1947
micro-economist1949
macro-economist1964
1871 Times 24 Aug. 4/5 They have also a guarantee, without counting bills and acceptances, 663 millions of coined money in Paris and in the branch banks; this is a little less than the proportion of one-third, held indispensable by all classical economists.
1936 Jrnl. Farm Econ. 18 2 They may recognize the remorselessness of certain economic laws as much as the classical economists.
2006 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 16 Nov. 43/2 Some of the classical economists..expected that the actual market price of, say, a bottle of beer might fluctuate above and below, but over time would average out to, its labor-value.
classical language n. (originally) ancient Greek or Latin (cf. classical Greek n., classical Latin n.); (later also) the form of a language used during the most highly developed stage of its early history (cf. sense A. 5).
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the mind > language > a language > [noun] > living, dead, or archaic language
classical language1752
dead language1781
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Greek > classical
the tongues1535
classical Greek1699
classical language1752
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > postulated Italo-Celtic > Latin > literary Latin
bookledenOE
classical Latin?1676
classical language1752
book Latin1773
neo-Latin1899
1752 Biogr. Gallica II. 123 It is surprising, that without any knowledge of the classical languages, he attained to a perfect acquaintance with the French.
1812 Brit. Critic Sept. 229 Besides the classical language, the Sanscrit, not less than eight vernacular languages are spoken.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vi. §4. 304 His son, Edward the Sixth, was a fair scholar in both the classical languages.
1956 Speculum 31 403 The author, who happens to be a great master of the classical languages, frequently consulted the original sources in Latin and Greek.
2006 K. Sabbagh Palestine iv. 56 He would have spoken colloquial Palestinian Arabic at home but to read and write the classical language fluently required considerable study.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1546