modernism

Etymology

It is formed from English modern + -ism.^[2][3][4][5] Johnson (1755) called it "a word invented by Swift".^[6][3] The adjective comes from French moderne and Late Latin modernus,^[3] from Latin modo (“just now”), the ablative of modus (“measure, manner”).^[3] The OED compares French modernisme, Italian modernismo and Spanish modernismo, which took on the artistic and theological senses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A usage or turn of style typical of modern times: Swift, in a letter to Pope of 23 July 1737, complained of writers who sent over their "trash in prose and verse, with abominable curtailings and quaint modernisms".^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined it as "deviation from the ancient and classical manner".^[6][3] From 1772 it also meant modern character or quality of thought and style, or sympathy with what is modern;^[2] the 1989 edition of the OED and Etymonline date this sense to 1830.^[7][3] In theology it was used from 1878 for movements that reshaped traditional doctrine in the light of modern ideas and scholarship,^[2] in the Roman Catholic Church especially the movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries,^[8] and in Protestant Christianity a liberal movement from the later 19th century.^[4] The use for movements in art, architecture and literature that broke deliberately with classical and traditional forms is recorded from 1879,^[2] although Etymonline dates it to 1924.^[3]

Timeline

• 1737 – a usage or expression characteristic of modern times, in Swift.^[2][3][4]
• 1772 – modern character of thought or style; sympathy with what is modern.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1830.^[3]
• 1878 – in theology, a movement adapting traditional beliefs to modern thought.^[2]
• 1879 – a movement in the arts breaking with traditional forms.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1924.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Modern ideas, practices or tendencies, or sympathy with them: The village elders distrusted every kind of modernism.^[8][4][9]
2. A usage, expression or feature characteristic of modern times.^[4][8][2]
3. (often capitalized) Any of the movements in art, architecture and literature, chiefly of the 20th century, that broke deliberately with classical and traditional forms.^[8][4][2]
4. (often capitalized; theology) A movement to adapt traditional religious doctrine to modern thought, especially in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[8][4][2]

Word family

• modernist
• modernistic
• antimodernism
• postmodernism

Related words

• modern
• modernity
• modernize
• mode

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin