fin de siècle en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
Borrowed from French fin-de-siècle (literally “end of the century”).
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Pertaining to the close of the 19th century, usually suggesting a literary and artistic climate of modernism, world-weariness, and self-indulgence.
The fin-de-siècle phenomenon has, of course, received considerable attention from historians in the recent past—a testament to its appeal. […] They also tend to concentrate on individual as well as social alienation as particularly characteristic of the fin-de-siècle feeling.
1990, Mikulas Teich, Roy Porter, Fin de Siècle and Its Legacy, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 3:
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(broadly, not-comparable) Pertaining to the close of the 20th (or any other) century.
And, Dag, have you ever noticed that your bungalow looks more like it belongs to a pair of Eisenhower era Allentown, Pennsylvania newlyweds than it does to a fin de siècle existentialist poseur?
1991, Douglas Coupland, “Eat Your Parents”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 85:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| fin-de-siècle | alternative | lexicographic | |
| fin de siecle | alternative | lexicographic |
Translations (1)
cmn 世紀末 /世纪末 (pertaining to the end of the 19th century)