— neoclassicist, neo-classicist , n.
/nee'oh klas"ik/ , adj.
1. ( sometimes cap. ) belonging or pertaining to a revival of classic styles or something that is held to resemble classic styles, as in art, literature, music, or architecture.
2. ( usually cap. ) Fine Arts. of, pertaining to, or designating a style of painting and sculpture developed principally from the mid-18th through the mid-19th centuries, characterized chiefly by an iconography derived from classical antiquity, a hierarchical conception of subject matter, severity of composition and, esp. in painting, by an oblique lighting of forms in the early phase and a strict linear quality in the later phase of the style.
3. Archit. of, pertaining to, or designating neoclassicism.
4. ( sometimes cap. ) Literature. of, pertaining to, or designating a style of poetry or prose, developed chiefly in the 17th and 18th centuries, rigidly adhering to canons of form that were derived mainly from classical antiquity, that were exemplified by decorum of style or diction, the three unities, etc., and that emphasized an impersonal expression of universal truths as shown in human actions, representing them principally in satiric and didactic modes.
Also, neoclassical, neo-classic, neo-classical .
[ 1875-80; NEO- + CLASSIC ]