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modernism

noun

Simple meaning

Any of several styles of art, architecture, literature, philosophy, etc., that flourished in the 20th century.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mahdernihzuhm

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmɑdɚnɪzəm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. uncountable

    Modern or contemporary ideas, thought, practices, etc.

  2. Practices typical of contemporary life or thought

  3. Any of several styles of art, architecture, literature, philosophy, etc., that flourished in the 20th century.

  4. countable

    Anything that is characteristic of modernity.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Modern or contemporary ideas, thought, practices, etc.

Used this way, modernism is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Several / religious

early modernism

Anything

european modernism

Other combinations

high modernismliterary modernismamerican modernismislamic modernism

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • modernistnounPerson or profession

    An artist who makes a deliberate break with previous styles.

  • modernitynounDerived noun

    The quality of being current or of the present.

  • modernizeverbDerived verb

    Make repairs, renovations, revisions or adjustments to.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: modern or contemporary ideas or thought or practices

modernity

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.