modernistic

UK: /ˌmɒdəˈnɪstɪk/ US: (mod′ər nis′tik)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mod•ern•is•tic  (mod′ər nis′tik), adj. 

1. modern.
2. of or pertaining to modernism or modernists.

• modern + -istic 1905–10

mod′ern•is′ti•cal•ly, adv. 

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

mod•ern•ism /ˈmɑdɚˌnɪzəm/   n. [uncountable]

1. modern character, tendencies, or values;
   belief in or sympathy with what is modern.
2. Music and Dance, Literature, Fine Art [sometimes: Modernism] a movement in the arts and literature rejecting the past.

mod•ern•ist, n. [countable] , adj. 
mod•ern•is•tic, adj.: 

modernistic sculpture.

See -mod-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mod•ern•ism  (mod′ər niz′əm), n. 

1. modern character, tendencies, or values;
   adherence to or sympathy with what is modern.
2. a modern usage or characteristic.
3. Religion (cap.) [Theol.]
   • the movement in Roman Catholic thought that sought to interpret the teachings of the Church in the light of philosophic and scientific conceptions prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: condemned by Pope Pius X in 1907.
   • the liberal theological tendency in Protestantism in the 20th century.
4. Music and Dance, Literature, Fine Art (sometimes cap.) a deliberate philosophical and practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring esp. in the course of the 20th century and taking form in any of various innovative movements and styles.

• modern + -ism 1730–40