minimalism
noun
Did you know?
In the 1960s, a few composers, including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and John Adams, began writing music inspired by the music of India and Southeast Asia, often with a quick pulsing beat and chords that are repeated quickly over and over while small changes are slowly introduced. Minimalist art, which began appearing around the same time, tries to strip away all personal elements, often leaving only pure geometric forms; you may have seen the plain silver boxes of Donald Judd, or the straight neon tubes of Bruce Nauman. In literature, the stripped-down fiction of Samuel Beckett and Raymond Carver is often considered minimalist. But there's a real question whether these various types of minimalism should even be considered the same concept.
Examples of minimalism in a Sentence
Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 June 2026
His culinary minimalism comes through in my favorite dish at Bar Del Monte, slender lamb skewers called arrosticini, which begin with the delivery of a whole lamb to Pastan’s Mount Pleasant restaurant.
—Elazar Sontag, Washington Post, 4 June 2026
The Calvin Klein offices Klein’s headquarters took over an entire 17-story building on 39th Street in Manhattan, and DiGerlando used interior designer Joe D’Urso, the grandfather of high-tech minimalism, to decorate the space with industrial materials and fixtures.
—Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 1 June 2026
After all, the inspiration from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding gown and generally all things ’90s minimalism is still going strong—why not lean into it with a similarly simple column shift?
—Rosie Jarman, Vogue, 29 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for minimalism
Cite this Entry
“Minimalism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimalism. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
Copy Citation
