as in term
a way of saying something that is particular to the present day; a modern speech form
modernisms like "blog" and "life hack"
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of modernism
His furniture regularly commands staggering prices at auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s, while his architectural works are increasingly gaining recognition as some of the most important examples of postwar Italian modernism.
—
Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 13 May 2026
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 property preserves a certain Bay Area idea of modernism rooted in landscape, not dominating it.
—David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Kline curates works from 1850 to 1960–Kline curates works from 1850 to 1960–the end of the 19th century to the end of modernism.
—Daily News, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for modernism
Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 13 May 2026
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 property preserves a certain Bay Area idea of modernism rooted in landscape, not dominating it.
—David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Kline curates works from 1850 to 1960–Kline curates works from 1850 to 1960–the end of the 19th century to the end of modernism.
—Daily News, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for modernism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for modernism
Noun
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The Pistons view him as the coach of the future and the expectation, per league sources, is for Bickerstaff to be around long term.—
Hunter Patterson,
New York Times,
18 May 2026
-
Professional commentators tended to see these developments in so many local terms—turning, for their explanations, to national histories, cultures and institutions.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
Noun
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Are these neologisms diagnosing modern phenomena or illuminating preëxisting cultural realities?—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
2 Dec. 2025
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These neologisms weren’t just clever.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The exhibit’s title is derived from a Spanish colloquialism.—
Uwa Ede-Osifo,
Dallas Morning News,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Ways to learn a new language Apps are a good way to learn the basics and proper pronunciation, but many colloquialisms, abbreviations and grammatically informal expressions used by fluent or native speakers aren’t taught on apps or in language classes.—
Cody Godwin,
USA Today,
12 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The phrase actually originates from a speech by 19th-century Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) leader Charles Stewart Parnell.—
Angela Andaloro,
PEOPLE,
14 May 2026
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Wright’s approach to the saxophone is often cubist in nature, reducing the music to isolated phrases and sounds and then battering them from every conceivable angle.—
Levi Dayan,
Pitchfork,
11 May 2026
Noun
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Special military operation is Russia’s official euphemism for the country’s invasion of Ukraine.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
30 Apr. 2026
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Discussing why people use euphemisms online prepares children to pause and ask questions when unfamiliar terms appear.—
Sharlette A. Kellum,
The Conversation,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The author, a professor named Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, proved to have a knack not just for provocative legal essays but for coinages, too.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
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People have been called pedants since the early modern period—pedante is a fifteenth-century Italian coinage for a professional teacher of Latin literature and rhetoric—but have been acting pedantically for millennia.—
Clare Bucknell,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Experiments like Strachey’s were part of an explosion of postwar research on the relationship between mathematics and language, expressions of a broader fascination with the automation of knowledge, which crossed disciplines and suffused the culture.—
Jill Lepore,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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That presentiment lies behind the many present expressions of apocalypse.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 May 2026
Noun
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Which brings us to the ménage à trois — for some things, only a French loanword will do — between Hayley, Yasmin, and Henry, which exists at the opposite end of the boundary-setting spectrum.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
26 Jan. 2026
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For instance, people, a French loanword, may be spelled peple, pepill, poeple, or poepul.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
10 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Modernism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/modernism. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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