[mod.ern.ism] n (1737) 1: a practice, usage, or expression peculiar to modern times
2. often cap: a tendency in theology to accommodate traditional religious teaching to contemporary thought and esp. to devalue supernatural elements
3: modern artistic or literary philosophy and practice; esp: a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression -- mod.ern.ist n or adj -- mod.ern.is.tic adj