Definition of "classicism" [clas•si•cism]

• Aesthetic attitudes and principles manifested in the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome and characterized by emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, and restraint. (noun)
• Adherence to the aesthetic values embodied in ancient Greek and Roman art and literature. (noun)
• Classical scholarship. (noun)
• A Greek or Latin expression or idiom. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Many other contemporaries, often in violent disagree - ment with Maurras and his group, also embraced what they called classicism: Julien Benda, a violent anti - romantic polemicist, highly rationalistic in outlook, recommended classicism."
• "It will be fun to see how the local form of ballet classicism is looking."
• "At the opposite end of the scale of cinematic classicism is the offbeat Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, William Greaves's meta-film from 1968, now released on DVD by Criterion along with its modern companion, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2½."