modernism

noun

mod·ern·ism | \ ˈmä-dər-ˌni-zəm

Definition of modernism

1 : a practice, usage, or expression peculiar to modern times such modernisms as "blog," "bromance," and "steampunk"

2 often capitalized : 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

Other Words from modernism More Example Sentences Learn More about modernism

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Other Words from modernism

modernist \ ˈmä-dər-nist

\ noun or adjective

modernistic \ ˌmä-dər-ˈni-stik

\ adjective

Examples of modernism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 1925 Le Corbusier, the Swiss-French architect and pioneer of modernism, suggested razing the homes, statues, and streets of much of Paris’s Right Bank. — Susan Goldberg, National Geographic, "What will make cities livable as millions more move to them?," 22 June 2019 In a statement, Kroloff alluded to IIT’s tradition of influential modernism, which began with renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who once headed the College of Architecture. — Blair Kamin, chicagotribune.com, "A new oval apartment tower breaks out of the box and brightens downtown’s western edge," 12 June 2019 His plan, too, is a work of modernism, vividly painted and highly styled. — Alexandra Lange, Curbed, "The exuberant career of the Brazilian designer Roberto Burle Marx brings the oft-overlooked field of landscape architecture to the foreground," 11 June 2019 The underlying absurdity of the fugitive’s condition, as well as Transit’s understated modernism, belies Seghers’s reputation as a Marxist ideologue; most certainly this strain of absurdism helped interest Petzold in the material. — J. Hoberman, The New York Review of Books, "The Waiting Rooms of History," 7 Mar. 2019 In the 1970s, Tigerman began to break from modernism through such buildings as Pensacola Place, a Janus-faced North Side apartment high-rise. — Blair Kamin, chicagotribune.com, "Iconoclastic Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman, who shaped the city with his buildings and ideas, dies at 88," 4 June 2019 In a world that was looking to reinvent a post-war aesthetic in architecture, furniture, automotive, and fashion design through innovation that focused on practicality, speed and labor-free invention, this triumvirate created a parallel modernism. — Hamish Bowles, Vogue, "Dior and His Decorators: How Two Interior Designers Created a “New Look” for the Home," 21 Sep. 2018 As modernism gained popularity following World War II, ornamental details like parquet were often eschewed in favor of carpet, concrete, or more simple wood floors. — Hadley Keller, House Beautiful, "Parquet Flooring: What Exactly Is it?," 15 Apr. 2019 MoMA has covered Le Corbusier ad infinitum, and its 2015 Latin American architecture exhibition delved deeply into the use of modernism (including concrete) to construct new neighborhoods, cities, and universities across Central and South America. — Alexandra Lange, Curbed, "Concrete utopia," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'modernism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.