romanticism
/ɹəʊˈmæntɪsɪzəm/
romanticism · name — an intellectual (especially artistic, literary, and musical) movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, peaking from 1800 to 1850, characterized by an emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of nature and the past, preferring the medieval to the classical.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
romanticism is pronounced /ɹəʊˈmæntɪsɪzəm/.
Why “romanticism” is a great word
Romanticism is a cultural and intellectual movement that champions emotion, individual imagination, and the sublime power of untamed nature over rationalism and formal order. From romantic (pertaining to the qualities of romance or idealized emotion) + -ism (forming nouns of action, system, or principle). Unlike "classicism" (which seeks timeless order and formal perfection) or "realism" (which fixates on the unadorned surfaces of the here and now), romanticism is a tempestuous inward turn—the lone figure silhouetted against a storm-wracked crag, the ruin haunted by the ache of lost time, the artist’s rebellion against the measured line. It is a defiant, ultimately melancholic conviction that feeling is the deepest truth, and that the world as it is must always yield to the world as it ought to be.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From romantic + -ism.
name
- An intellectual (especially artistic, literary, and musical) movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, peaking from 1800 to 1850, characterized by an emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of nature and the past, preferring the medieval to the classical.
noun
- A romantic quality, spirit or action.e.g.“On at least ONE day of the week the Jew could conjure up a Messianic era where he breathed freely and happily. This romanticism is voiced in the Sabbath-songs of the Jews throughout the Diaspora.” — 1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 368:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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