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
Jeffrey Simpson Examples of modernism in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
More than 200 paintings, sculptures and drawings — with the odd photograph thrown in, and a plan to rotate some artworks — trace the flow of ideas from early modernism to the postwar era.
—Kriston Capps, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
Its founding curator of modern and contemporary art, Beth Citron, organized three eye-opening exhibitions devoted South Asian modernism.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024
This astute biography, by a veteran Village Voice critic, traces the long career of Martha Graham, a choreographer who became one of the major figures of twentieth-century modernism.
—The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
Fill the Spaces with Plants and Branches Plants and greenery are another fundamental element of organic modernism.
—Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Mar. 2024
Conceptual art was both an extension and a critique of modernism.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2024
But that alienation—the flip side of modernism—is missing from Murrell’s take on the Harlem Renaissance.
—Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024
Today, studios are looking to expand on that legacy while continuing to push the definition of desert modernism in the Coachella Valley.
—Antonina Jedrzejczak, Robb Report, 21 Jan. 2024
In the early Soviet Union, there was a great blossoming of all kinds of culture, not necessarily in the Russian language or specific to Russia—Ukrainian modernism, for instance.
—Merve Emre, The New York Review of Books, 13 Feb. 2024
Kriston Capps, Washington Post, 10 Apr. 2024
Its founding curator of modern and contemporary art, Beth Citron, organized three eye-opening exhibitions devoted South Asian modernism.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024
This astute biography, by a veteran Village Voice critic, traces the long career of Martha Graham, a choreographer who became one of the major figures of twentieth-century modernism.
—The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
Fill the Spaces with Plants and Branches Plants and greenery are another fundamental element of organic modernism.
—Jessica Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Mar. 2024
Conceptual art was both an extension and a critique of modernism.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2024
But that alienation—the flip side of modernism—is missing from Murrell’s take on the Harlem Renaissance.
—Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024
Today, studios are looking to expand on that legacy while continuing to push the definition of desert modernism in the Coachella Valley.
—Antonina Jedrzejczak, Robb Report, 21 Jan. 2024
In the early Soviet Union, there was a great blossoming of all kinds of culture, not necessarily in the Russian language or specific to Russia—Ukrainian modernism, for instance.
—Merve Emre, The New York Review of Books, 13 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'modernism.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Modernism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/modernism. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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