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
Recent Examples on the Web
As a co-founder of SCI-Arc and a key figure in Southern California modernism, his homes continue to set the standard for how light, space, and the outdoors can coexist, influencing generations of architects and shaping the region’s architectural identity.
—Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 27 Oct. 2025
San Diego’s Design Center had a similar impact in the spread of modernism in this region.
—Michael James Rocha, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2025
For the Fasano, Starck drew on the language of Brazilian midcentury modernism, combining clean lines with organic shapes and using rich natural materials—leather, wicker, lustrous wood—with a thread of craft and traditional technique.
—Hannah Walhout, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2025
Like many of his contemporaries—James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Styron—Matthiessen was in Paris to channel the legacy of literary modernism and to write innovative fiction.
—Maggie Doherty, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
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Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 27 Oct. 2025
San Diego’s Design Center had a similar impact in the spread of modernism in this region.
—Michael James Rocha, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Oct. 2025
For the Fasano, Starck drew on the language of Brazilian midcentury modernism, combining clean lines with organic shapes and using rich natural materials—leather, wicker, lustrous wood—with a thread of craft and traditional technique.
—Hannah Walhout, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2025
Like many of his contemporaries—James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Styron—Matthiessen was in Paris to channel the legacy of literary modernism and to write innovative fiction.
—Maggie Doherty, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for modernism
Cite this Entry
“Modernism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/modernism. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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