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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Its works not only suggest strategies for housing the destitute but also convey an understanding of the forces (authoritarianism, corporate greed, systemic racism, and the co-option of modernism) that have conspired against São Paulo—and Los Angeles.
—Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
This effort has a noble literary pedigree, incipient in Percy Shelley, gaining full steam with Matthew Arnold and Walter Pater, and continuing on through much of modernism (especially Wallace Stevens, about whom Critchley has written a book, Things Merely Are).
—Christian Wiman, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Figures press against one another geographically, and against the polite abstractions of mid-century modernism.
—Skylar Mitchell, Essence, 18 Dec. 2025
Here’s a pale pink paradise that Shea McGee would delight in, on account of its baskets, ochre accents, and its clean but warm take on rustic modernism.
—Erika Owen, Architectural Digest, 16 Dec. 2025
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Michaëla De Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
This effort has a noble literary pedigree, incipient in Percy Shelley, gaining full steam with Matthew Arnold and Walter Pater, and continuing on through much of modernism (especially Wallace Stevens, about whom Critchley has written a book, Things Merely Are).
—Christian Wiman, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Figures press against one another geographically, and against the polite abstractions of mid-century modernism.
—Skylar Mitchell, Essence, 18 Dec. 2025
Here’s a pale pink paradise that Shea McGee would delight in, on account of its baskets, ochre accents, and its clean but warm take on rustic modernism.
—Erika Owen, Architectural Digest, 16 Dec. 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 2 Jan. 2026.
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