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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Built in 1975, the four-bedroom abode is a significant example of desert modernism in the American Southwest.
—Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2026
The style is very much 1960s modernism, with a disjunct vocal line that emphasizes the character’s distress but nonspecialist audiences might struggle with.
—Michael Zwiebach, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Mar. 2026
More to Explore In this environment, some activists and intellectuals adopted bikes as part of a resistance to car-centric capitalist modernism.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 5 Mar. 2026
Additionally, young architects in particular felt that modernism represented little more than an aesthetic language, and sought to create structures rooted in functionalism and monumental expression.
—Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 2 Mar. 2026
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Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2026
The style is very much 1960s modernism, with a disjunct vocal line that emphasizes the character’s distress but nonspecialist audiences might struggle with.
—Michael Zwiebach, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Mar. 2026
More to Explore In this environment, some activists and intellectuals adopted bikes as part of a resistance to car-centric capitalist modernism.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 5 Mar. 2026
Additionally, young architects in particular felt that modernism represented little more than an aesthetic language, and sought to create structures rooted in functionalism and monumental expression.
—Katherine McLaughlin, Architectural Digest, 2 Mar. 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 21 Mar. 2026.
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