Definition of "modernism" []

• Modern thought, character, or practice. (noun)
• Sympathy with or conformity to modern ideas, practices, or standards. (noun)
• A peculiarity of usage or style, as of a word or phrase, that is characteristic of modern times. (noun)
• The deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the 20th century. (noun)
• A Roman Catholic movement, officially condemned in 1907, that attempted to examine traditional belief according to contemporary philosophy, criticism, and historiography. (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.

• ""Post-modernism is about rejecting tradition, but I am interested in traditions and in processes and transformations, whether in materials or in societies, and in questioning why a process exists," she says."
• "His post-modernism is pretty unattractive and essentially nihilistic."
• "I've long held the view that the framing device of "post modernism" is a pertinent but inaccurate reading of the historical period that follows such an eruption."