[klas-uh-siz-uh
m] 
| 1. | the principles or styles characteristic of the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome. |
| 2. | adherence to such principles. |
| 3. | the classical style in literature and art, or adherence to its principles (contrasted with romanticism ). Compare classical (def. 7). |
| 4. | a Greek or Latin idiom or form, esp. one used in some other language. |
| 5. | classical scholarship or learning. |
An approach to aesthetics that favors restraint, rationality, and the use of strict forms in literature, painting, architecture, and other arts. It flourished in ancient Greece and Rome, and throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Classicists often derived their models from the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Note: Classicism is sometimes considered the opposite of romanticism.