modernism
noun
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 Examples of modernism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
There are moments when the book, in defending Giacometti, seems to overburden his oeuvre with an exponential set of aesthetic, intellectual, and political problems, from resolving the tensions between modernism and the avant-garde to a singular working through of national trauma.
—Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 16 Apr. 2026
Set amongst rice fields in Ubud, the home blends tropical modernism with local craftsmanship, with four bedrooms that open out to green views.
—Angela Tafoya, Vogue, 16 Apr. 2026
All three of us share a focus on researching, archiving and documenting Black modernism and space.
—Jerald “coop” Cooper, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026
Later, criticism also came from arbiters of high modernism, such as Clement Greenberg, who wrote off New Deal art as kitsch for the masses.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 9 Apr. 2026
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Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 16 Apr. 2026
Set amongst rice fields in Ubud, the home blends tropical modernism with local craftsmanship, with four bedrooms that open out to green views.
—Angela Tafoya, Vogue, 16 Apr. 2026
All three of us share a focus on researching, archiving and documenting Black modernism and space.
—Jerald “coop” Cooper, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026
Later, criticism also came from arbiters of high modernism, such as Clement Greenberg, who wrote off New Deal art as kitsch for the masses.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 9 Apr. 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 24 Apr. 2026.
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