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modern
6 dictionary results for: Modern
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mod⋅ern

   [mod-ern]
–adjective
1. of or pertaining to present and recent time; not ancient or remote: modern city life.
2. characteristic of present and recent time; contemporary; not antiquated or obsolete: modern viewpoints.
3. of or pertaining to the historical period following the Middle Ages: modern European history.
4. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of contemporary styles of art, literature, music, etc., that reject traditionally accepted or sanctioned forms and emphasize individual experimentation and sensibility.
5. (initial capital letter) new (def. 12).
6. Typography. noting or descriptive of a font of numerals in which the body aligns on the baseline, as 1234567890. Compare old style (def. 3).
–noun
7. a person of modern times.
8. a person whose views and tastes are modern.
9. Printing. a type style differentiated from old style by heavy vertical strokes and straight serifs.
Origin:
1490–1500; < MF moderne < LL modernus, equiv. to L mod(o), mod(ō) lately, just now (orig. abl. sing. of modus mode 1 ) + -ernus adj. suffix of time
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mod·ern     (mŏd'ərn)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.  
    1. Of or relating to recent times or the present: modern history.
    2. Characteristic or expressive of recent times or the present; contemporary or up-to-date: a modern lifestyle; a modern way of thinking.
    3. Of or relating to a recently developed or advanced style, technique, or technology: modern art; modern medicine.
    4. Avant-garde; experimental.
    1. Of or relating to a recently developed or advanced style, technique, or technology: modern art; modern medicine.
    2. Avant-garde; experimental.
  3. often Modern Linguistics Of, relating to, or being a living language or group of languages: Modern Italian; Modern Romance languages.
n.  
  1. One who lives in modern times.
  2. One who has modern ideas, standards, or beliefs.
  3. Printing Any of a variety of typefaces characterized by strongly contrasted heavy and thin parts.

[French moderne, from Old French, from Late Latin modernus, from Latin modo, in a certain manner, just now, from modō, ablative of modus, manner; see med- in Indo-European roots.]
mod'ern·ly adv., mod'ern·ness n.
Word History: The word modern, first recorded in 1585 in the sense "of present or recent times," has traveled through the centuries designating things that inevitably must become old-fashioned as the word itself goes on to the next modern thing. We have now invented the word postmodern, as if we could finally fix modern in time, but even postmodern (first recorded in 1949) will seem fusty in the end, perhaps sooner than modern will. Going back to Late Latin modernus, "modern," which is derived from Latin modo in the sense "just now," the English word modern (first recorded at the beginning of the 16th century) was not originally concerned with anything that could later be considered old-fashioned. It simply meant "being at this time, now existing," an obsolete sense today. In the later 16th century, however, we begin to see the word contrasted with the word ancient and also used of technology in a way that is clearly related to our own modern way of using the word. Modern was being applied specifically to what pertained to present times and also to what was new and not old-fashioned. Thus in the 19th and 20th centuries the word could be used to designate a movement in art, modernism, which is now being followed by postmodernism.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
modern 
"of or pertaining to present or recent times," 1500, from M.Fr. moderne, from L.L. modernus "modern," from L. modo "just now, in a (certain) manner," from modo "to the measure," abl. of modus "manner, measure" (see mode (1)). In Shakespeare, often with a sense of "every-day, ordinary, commonplace." Slang abbreviation mod first attested 1960. Modern art is from 1849; modern dance first attested 1912; first record of modern jazz is from 1955. Modern conveniences first recorded 1926. Modernize is from 1748 (implied in modernized).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
modern

adjective
1. belonging to the modern era; since the Middle Ages; "modern art"; "modern furniture"; "modern history"; "totem poles are modern rather than prehistoric" [ant: nonmodern] 
2. relating to a recently developed fashion or style; "their offices are in a modern skyscraper"; "tables in modernistic designs"; [syn: mod] 
3. characteristic of present-day art and music and literature and architecture 
4. ahead of the times; "the advanced teaching methods"; "had advanced views on the subject"; "a forward-looking corporation"; "is British industry innovative enough?" [syn: advanced] 
5. used of a living language; being the current stage in its development; "Modern English"; "New Hebrew is Israeli Hebrew" 

noun
1. a contemporary person 
2. a typeface (based on an 18th century design by Gianbattista Bodoni) distinguished by regular shape and hairline serifs and heavy downstrokes [ant: old style] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Modern

Mod"ern\, a. [F. moderne, L. modernus; akin to modo just now, orig. abl. of modus measure; hence, by measure, just now. See Mode.]

1. Of or pertaining to the present time, or time not long past; late; not ancient or remote in past time; of recent period; as, modern days, ages, or time; modern authors; modern fashions; modern taste; modern practice. --Bacon.

2. New and common; trite; commonplace. [Obs.]

We have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. --Shak.

Modern English. See the Note under English.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Modern

Mod"ern\, n. A person of modern times; -- opposed to ancient. --Pope.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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