neotechnicadj.
/ˌniːə(ʊ)ˈtɛknɪk/, U.S. /ˌnioʊˈtɛknɪk/ Of or relating to the development of new technology, or to a period characterized by this; spec. of, belonging to, or designating the most recent stage of industrial or post-industrial development. Cf. palaeotechnic adj., eotechnic adj.The term was popularized by Lewis Mumford in Technics & Civilization (see quot. 1934), and applied esp. to the period between the late 19th cent. and the Second World War (1939–45).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > [adjective] > early or recent stage of development
neotechnic1879
eotechnic1934
1879 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 8 343 They are now, as ever, a bone and stone-using people, reproducing the same ingenious arts which characterised the neotechnic labours of the Cro-Magnon and Mentone workmen of Europe's reindeer or mammoth periods.
1904 P. Geddes City Devel. xxv. 175/1 Must we not..recognise that the formerly less prominent industrial peoples..are passing more quickly than we into the ‘Neotechnic’ stage?
1915 P. Geddes Cities in Evol. iv. 64 Simply substituting -technic for -lithic, we may distinguish the earlier and ruder elements of the Industrial Age as Paleotechnic, the newer and still often incipient elements disengaging themselves from these as Neotechnic.
1934 L. Mumford Technics & Civilization iii. 109 In defining the paleotechnic and neotechnic phases, he [sc. Prof. Geddes]..neglected the important period of preparation, when all the key inventions were either invented or foreshadowed.
1967 Punch 27 Sept. 451/1 The country would be rejigged to meet the challenge of the neotechnic revolution.
1995 Amer. Scientist July 383/3 Finally, the third [phase], termed the neotechnic, which began circa 1880, saw transport revolutionized by the use of electricity and petroleum.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1879