Modernism was a movement in the arts in the first half of the twentieth century that rejected traditional values and techniques, and emphasized the importance of individual experience.
2. See also post-modernism
modernism in British English
(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
International Style
4. (capital) Roman Catholic 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
modernist (ˈmodernist)
noun, adjective
modernistic (ˌmodernˈistic)
adjective
modernistically (ˌmodernˈistically)
adverb
modernism in American English
(ˈmɑdərnˌɪzəm)
noun
1.
a.
modern practices, trends, ideas, etc., or sympathy with any of these
b.
an instance of this; a modern idiom, practice, or usage
2. [oftenM-]
any of several movements variously attempting to redefine Biblical and Christian dogma and traditional teachings in the light of modern science, historical research, etc.: condemned in the Roman Catholic Church in 1907 as a heresy
3. [oftenM-]
the early 20th-cent. movement or trend in which certain artists and writers, esp. those (as Joyce, T. S. Eliot, and Picasso) of the period between WWI and WWII, broke with established traditions and soughtnew modes of expression
Derived forms
modernist (ˈmodernist)
noun, adjective
Examples of 'modernism' in a sentence
modernism
Antiquarianism and modernism had fought hard battles over the bones of Diddisham.
Aldiss, Brian SOMEWHERE EAST OF LIFE (1999)
He thought postmodernism wasn't a real epoch, just the last gasp of modernism before the next phase started.
Patricia Gaffney THE SAVING GRACES (1999)
Word lists with
modernism
Art styles and movements
In other languages
modernism
British English: modernism NOUN
Modernism was a movement in the arts in the first half of the twentieth century that rejected traditional values and techniques, and emphasized the importance of individual experience.