modernity

noun

mo·​der·​ni·​ty mə-ˈdər-nə-tē 

mä-, 

-ˈder- 

1

: the quality or state of being or appearing to be modern

Such details as street lamps, telephone booths, mailboxes and manhole covers have been expensively recreated to recall a past that makes even young Hungarians nostalgic and Western tourists regret the flashy modernity of their cities.

—Henry Kamm

His early work portrayed the idiosyncratic behavior of his zany upper-class family whose wealth and quest for modernity impelled them to try out all the latest inventions and devices of the time, from electric razors to automobiles to flying machines.

—Naomi Rosenblum

2

: the modern era or world and especially the ideas and attitudes associated with the modern world

For all his conservatism, Henry Adams's encounter with modernity led neither to romantic antiquarianism … nor to an intensified commitment to those very liberal arts that were under siege in a market society.

—Peter N. Miller

Examples of modernity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

At this point, there has been very little overt political commentary in the production, which otherwise points to modernity mainly in its language. —Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2025

Pilkington insists that individuals are simply not constituted to cope in the world produced by liberal modernity. —Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025

Silyan is characterized by lingering, intimate shots of the storks in action, their timeless beauty bumping up against modernity. —David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 8 Dec. 2025

Their music electrifies the youths and stirs the wrath of traditionalists, igniting a confrontation between modernity and superstition. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 5 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1635, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for modernity

• eternity
• fraternity
• maternity
• paternity
• confraternity
• taciturnity