modernism

noun

mod·​ern·​ism ˈmä-dər-ˌni-zəm 

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

modernist

ˈmä-dər-nist 

noun or adjective

modernistic

ˌmä-dər-ˈni-stik 

adjective

Examples of modernism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But finding his last home—the final design from the man who helped define desert modernism—is something else entirely. —Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 14 Aug. 2025

Elizabeth Giorgis, a scholar who left her banking job to study African modernism and Ethiopian art history, and went on to become one of the preeminent experts in her field, died on March 16 in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. —Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 27 Mar. 2025

The combo of a white tank top and jeans always looks crisp, and with brown boots the whole ensemble becomes a lesson in clean modernism. —Alex Sales, Glamour, 29 June 2025

A lot of the spiritual history wasn't, uh, kind of scrubbed away in with modernism and with certain contemporary laws. —Outside Online, 25 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1737, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing modernism

• hyper-modernism

Rhymes for modernism

• autism
• fascism
• racism
• sikhism
• statism
• sufism
• thomism
• tourism
• tropism
• abolitionism
• aldosteronism
• americanism

Kids Definition

modernism

noun

mod·​ern·​ism ˈmäd-ər-ˌniz-əm 

: a modern custom, expression, style, or idea

modernist

-nəst 

noun or adjective

modernistic

ˌmäd-ər-ˈnis-tik 

adjective