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Zeitgeist - 6 dictionary results

Zeit⋅geist

  [tsahyt-gahyst]
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–noun German.
the spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling characteristic of a particular period of time.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Zeit·geist   (tsīt'gīst', zīt'-)   
n.  The spirit of the time; the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or generation: "It's easy to see how a student . . . in the 1940's could imbibe such notions. The Zeitgeist encouraged Philosopher-Kings" (James Atlas).

[German : Zeit, time (from Middle High German zīt, from Old High German; see dā- in Indo-European roots) + Geist, spirit; see poltergeist.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Zeitgeist

Zeit"geist`\, n. [G.; zeit time + geist spirit. See Tide, n.; Ghost, n.] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Zeitgeist [(tseyt-geyst, zeyt-geyst)]

The general moral, intellectual, and cultural climate of an era; Zeitgeist is German for “time-spirit.” For example, the Zeitgeist of England in the Victorian period included a belief in industrial progress, and the Zeitgeist of the 1980s in the United States was a belief in the power of money and the many ways in which to spend it.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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zeitgeist 
1848, from Ger. Zeitgeist, lit. "spirit of the age," from Zeit "time" (see tide) + Geist "spirit" (see ghost).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Zeitgeist Zeit·geist (tsīt'gīst', zīt'-)
n.
The taste, outlook, and spirit characteristic of a period or generation.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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