modernity

noun

mo·​der·​ni·​ty mə-ˈdər-nə-tē 

mä-, 

-ˈder- 

1

: the quality or state of being or appearing to be modern

Such details as street lamps, telephone booths, mailboxes and manhole covers have been expensively recreated to recall a past that makes even young Hungarians nostalgic and Western tourists regret the flashy modernity of their cities.

—Henry Kamm

His early work portrayed the idiosyncratic behavior of his zany upper-class family whose wealth and quest for modernity impelled them to try out all the latest inventions and devices of the time, from electric razors to automobiles to flying machines.

—Naomi Rosenblum

2

: the modern era or world and especially the ideas and attitudes associated with the modern world

For all his conservatism, Henry Adams's encounter with modernity led neither to romantic antiquarianism … nor to an intensified commitment to those very liberal arts that were under siege in a market society.

—Peter N. Miller

Examples of modernity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That sense of modernity has sometimes felt absent from the movies’ sweetly old-fashioned world, which features pull-string cowboy dolls and a shiny spaceman action figure. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 19 June 2026

The asymmetry gives a classic look some modernity and interest without breaking any royal protocols. —Marci Robin, Allure, 17 June 2026

In early modernity, women were the keepers of this obsessive temporality of attention—of the current of time that flows beneath event, beneath change. —Literary Hub, 16 June 2026

Versailles parquet floors, cannage and cabochon imbue the space with a spirit that blends heritage and modernity. —David Moin, Footwear News, 16 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1635, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for modernity

• eternity
• fraternity
• maternity
• paternity
• confraternity
• taciturnity