modernisms

noun

plural of modernism
as in archaisms
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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of modernisms The plot, though streamlined, is accented with some verbal modernisms in keeping with that reclining easy chair, as if slipped in to keep things askew. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 22 Oct. 2026 Art history as a discipline favors upstarts, the avant-garde, protest, outsiders, and transgression—all those timeless modernisms. — Anna Kornbluh, ARTnews.com, 7 Oct. 2026 The silk mousseline garments floated almost like ghosts or memories of Chanel designs past, including the famous skirt suit with its matching cardigan and Karl Lagerfeld modernisms like jeans with a tweed jacket, plus the iconic flap bag. — CNN Money, 30 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for modernisms
  1. terms
  2. colloquialisms
  3. neologisms
  4. coinages
  5. phrases
  6. euphemisms
Noun
  • The terms of the voluntary work program at all federal immigration facilities are directed by the Federal government and governed by federal law.
    — Christa Swanson, CBS News, 8 Nov. 2026
  • The organization distinguishes the terms by defining bisexuality as the capacity for attraction to more than one gender, while pansexuality can describe attraction to people of all genders or regardless of gender.
    — Amanda Greenwood, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of terms
Noun
  • Clues in quotation marks are colloquialisms, of a kind, and need to solve to a phrase that’s similar in tone.
    — Sam Corbin, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2026
  • While Niles’ lack of dialogue and his comedic chops can translate well and lead to worldwide exposure, a character whose appeal depends on English-language jokes and colloquialisms is harder to export.
    — Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Definition of colloquialisms
Noun
  • Onstage interpreters at the WOTY vote are quick to translate neologisms in real time, but there’s no one-to-one equivalent between a word and a sign.
    — New York Times, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • These neologisms weren’t just clever.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
Definition of neologisms
Noun
  • 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
  • There were a few coinages in the script, but 90 percent of the language is real.
    — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 14 Aug. 2025
Definition of coinages
Noun
  • However recognizable the structures may be—isolated phrases giving way to longform improvisation—the performance finds Taylor in a transitional period, one in which the ephemerality of the moment pushed its musicians to bold new places.
    — Levi Dayan, Pitchfork, 3 Nov. 2026
  • His Rocky Mountain ambitions, however, have left behind an increasingly crowded cemetery of Prime Time pet-phrases.
    — Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of phrases
Noun
  • Sam Roberts, a longtime obituarist for the New York Times, wants to banish the euphemisms that attend death.
    — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Tshabalala’s bluntness about the economic cost is the rare honest signal here; business will not be pacified by euphemisms.
    — Tiisetso Motsoeneng, semafor.com, 10 July 2026
Definition of euphemisms

Browse Nearby Words

modernism
modernisms
modernist
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Cite this Entry

“Modernisms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/modernisms. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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