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
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Designed by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects in collaboration with Art Director Christian Møller Andersen, the space combined Italian historicism with the disciplined geometry of 1930s modernism.
—Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 8 May 2026
The 1970s building housing Arpoador was reborn with Brazilian modernism in mind, which is translated through its use of natural materials and nautical nods that bring the ocean in.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 May 2026
These formal approaches are at the core of the history of modernism and continue to animate the practices of countless contemporary artists.
—Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 6 May 2026
That may be why the dominant strains in American modernism (at least until the mid-twentieth century, when the sublime reappeared in the work of the Abstract Expressionists) cleaved to the factual, the intimate, the proximate.
—Sebastian Smee, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
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Sofia Celeste, Footwear News, 8 May 2026
The 1970s building housing Arpoador was reborn with Brazilian modernism in mind, which is translated through its use of natural materials and nautical nods that bring the ocean in.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 May 2026
These formal approaches are at the core of the history of modernism and continue to animate the practices of countless contemporary artists.
—Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 6 May 2026
That may be why the dominant strains in American modernism (at least until the mid-twentieth century, when the sublime reappeared in the work of the Abstract Expressionists) cleaved to the factual, the intimate, the proximate.
—Sebastian Smee, New Yorker, 4 May 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 May. 2026.
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