mod·ern·ism
ˈmä-dər-ˌni-zəm 
1
: a practice, usage, or expression particular to the present time
… follows the rest of the [original] work more or less line by line, enlivening the language with modernisms and anachronisms of his own.—
Contemporary Authors
Contemporary Authors2
often Modernism
: a tendency in theology to accommodate traditional religious teaching to contemporary thought and especially to devalue supernatural elements
3
: modern artistic or literary philosophy and practice
especially
: a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression
… extols the … modernism that laid the foundation of all twentieth-century design. —Jeffrey Simpson
Jeffrey Simpson
mod·ern·ist
ˈmä-dər-nist
plural -s
mod·ern·ist
ˈmä-dər-nist
: of, relating to, or characteristic of modernism or modernists
Examples of modernism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 13 June 2026
In 1939, Galenz had the opportunity to show his work on a global stage as part of the Lebanese Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair; the fair marked a crucial moment in the international visibility of the developing Lebanese modernism movement.
—The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 12 June 2026
The lens widened further to embrace categories of practice not conventionally regarded as art, most prominently, craft; here, too, the art establishment focused on textiles and ceramics engaged with an existing modernism, as opposed to the 1970s focus on regional and communal networks.
—Katy Siegel, Artforum, 2 June 2026
His youngest child, Gertrude Stein, would become a legend, a leading figure of literary modernism, possibly the only female avant-garde writer in the world to have her name up in lights in Times Square.
—Literary Hub, 1 June 2026
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Noun
In the years that followed, American landscape painting was shuffled off to storage to make room for modernism, and paintings like Church’s, with their glassy finishes and profuse detail, came to seem the embodiment of fuddy-duddy.
—Susan Tallman, The Atlantic, 13 June 2026
In 1939, Galenz had the opportunity to show his work on a global stage as part of the Lebanese Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair; the fair marked a crucial moment in the international visibility of the developing Lebanese modernism movement.
—The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 12 June 2026
The lens widened further to embrace categories of practice not conventionally regarded as art, most prominently, craft; here, too, the art establishment focused on textiles and ceramics engaged with an existing modernism, as opposed to the 1970s focus on regional and communal networks.
—Katy Siegel, Artforum, 2 June 2026
His youngest child, Gertrude Stein, would become a legend, a leading figure of literary modernism, possibly the only female avant-garde writer in the world to have her name up in lights in Times Square.
—Literary Hub, 1 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for modernism
Cite this Entry
“Modernism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/modernism. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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