Dictionary

modern en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɔd.ən/ (Australia)
• [ˈmɔd.n̩] (Australia)
• [ˈmɔ̟d.n̩] (New-Zealand)
• mŏdʹərn (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈmɒd.ən/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈmɑ.dɚn/ (Atlantic-Canada, General-American)
• [ˈmɒd.n̩] (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈmɒd.ən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (California) audio
• /ˈmɒd.ɚn/ (Canada, dialectal) of the US

Etymology

From Middle French moderne, from Late Latin modernus; from Latin modo (“just now”), originally ablative of modus (“measure”); hence, by measure, "just now". See also mode.

Meanings

1. Pertaining to a current or recent time and style; not ancient.
   • Our online interactive game is a modern approach to teaching about gum disease.  Although it was built in the 1600s, the building still has a very modern look.
   • Among the most modern of all the Pacific stock in Great Britain is the stud of "Merchant Navy" and "West Country" Pacifics on the Southern Region, and the rebuilding which is now being carried out, preserving all the best features of the Bulleid designs—such as the free-steaming boiler—and jettisoning the features that have given trouble, in particular the chain-driven valve-motion, should give the Southern a supply of highly-competent machines able to last out the remaining life of steam on the S.R. 1957 July 14, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 496:
   • In fact, he had created the conditions for the great horror of modern times. 2018 June 14, Timothy Snyder, “How Did the Nazis Gain Power in Germany?”, in The New York Times:
   • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll. 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
   • But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. ¶ There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…]. 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
   • The "Overhead Door" is the garage door that can be opened or closed at a touch every day in the year—regardless of the weather. It is the garage door that opens UP Completely Out of the Way. In short, it is the modern door for the modern garage—in step with the times. 1930 May 31, “The "Overhead Door" for Garage-Factory-Warehouse”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 202, number 48, page 110:
2. Pertaining to the modern period (c.1800 to contemporary times), particularly in academic historiography.

Forms

Antonyms

dated · premodern (antonym(s) of “pertaining to the modern period”) · former · old · old-fashioned · ancient (antonym(s) of) · historical

Deriveds

modern age · modern history · Modern Korean · modernish · modern first · modern jazz · nonmodern · liquid modern · modern-day · modernness · modern ruins · premodern · modern human · retro-modern · Modern English · supermodern · modern studies · ultramodern · modernism · as modern as next week · modern language · transmodern · modern apprenticeship · secondary modern · secondary modern school · Modern Japanese · unmodern · non-modern · modernise · late modern · modern pentathlon · protomodern · modern era · modern convenience · prepostmodern · modern as next week · post-modern · Modern Greek · modernista · modern physics · modernly · modern sequence dancing · modern primitive · moderner · Modern Hebrew · neomodern · overmodern · ultra-modern · modern dance · postpostmodern · Modern Portuguese · modern algebra · modern art · modern up · modern times · early modern · modern ruin · modernistic · modernity · modern antique · modern school · postmodern · metamodern · modernize · Modern Standard Arabic · antemodern · European early modern human · semimodern · pseudomodern · antimodern · modern synthesis · mid-century modern · modern greats · Modern French · modern girl

Relateds

Modernisme · moderne · modernus

Synonyms

current · contemporary (pertaining to current or recent time)

Translations (107)

yi מאָדערן (pertaining to the current time and style) · bn আধুনিক (pertaining to the current time and style) · ja モダンな (pertaining to the current time and style) · no moderne (pertaining to the current time and style) · az çağdaş (pertaining to the current time and style) · tr çağdaş (pertaining to the current time and style) · tr modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · tl moderno (pertaining to the current time and style) · ga nua-aimseartha (pertaining to the current time and style) · da moderne (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · ko 현대의 (pertaining to the current time and style) · hy արդիական (pertaining to the current time and style) · pl nowożytny (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · tl moderno (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · nl nieuwerwets (pertaining to the current time and style) · ar مُعَاصِر (pertaining to the current time and style) · sv modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · da moderne (pertaining to the current time and style) · fa امروزی (pertaining to the current time and style) · el νεώτερος (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · tr çağcıl (pertaining to the current time and style) · io moderna (pertaining to the current time and style) · fa مدرن (pertaining to the current time and style) · az müasir (pertaining to the current time and style) · nl eigentijds (pertaining to the current time and style) · el μοντέρνος (pertaining to the current time and style) · kk модернистік (pertaining to the current time and style) · fa زمانوی (pertaining to the current time and style) · ar حَدِيث (pertaining to the current time and style) · km ទំនើប (pertaining to the current time and style) · he מוֹדֶרְנִי (pertaining to the current time and style) · es moderno (pertaining to the current time and style) · cmn 摩登 (pertaining to the current time and style) · fr moderne (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · pl współczesny (pertaining to the current time and style) · gd nodha (pertaining to the current time and style) · hy ժամանակակից (pertaining to the current time and style) · mk модерен (pertaining to the current time and style) · fi moderni (pertaining to the current time and style) · sv nutida (pertaining to the current time and style) · id modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · ang geong (pertaining to the current time and style) · hu modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · tg замонавӣ (pertaining to the current time and style) · vi hiện đại (pertaining to the current time and style) · nl modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · vo nulädik (pertaining to the current time and style) · pdt niemootsch (pertaining to the current time and style) · te ఆధునికం (pertaining to the current time and style) · cmn 近代的 (pertaining to the current time and style) · ca modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · ast modernu (pertaining to the current time and style) · is nútímalegur (pertaining to the current time and style) · uk суча́сний (pertaining to the current time and style) · pl nowoczesny (pertaining to the current time and style) · za ciuhneix (pertaining to the current time and style) · sh савремен (pertaining to the current time and style) · be суча́сны (pertaining to the current time and style) · tt замандаш (pertaining to the current time and style) · ja 現代的 ( (pertaining to the current time and style) · it moderno (pertaining to the current time and style) · ang niewe (pertaining to the current time and style) · ka თანამედროვე (pertaining to the current time and style) · el σύγχρονος (pertaining to the current time and style) · zza modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · ht modèn (pertaining to the current time and style) · nrf modèrne (pertaining to the current time and style) · mnc ᠨᡝᡳ ᡶᠣᠩᡤᡝ (pertaining to the current time and style) · sl moderen (pertaining to the current time and style) · sv modern (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · sk moderný (pertaining to the current time and style) · eo moderna (pertaining to the current time and style) · mk современ (pertaining to the current time and style) · sh moderan (pertaining to the current time and style) · sk súčasný (pertaining to the current time and style) · fi nykyaikainen (pertaining to the current time and style) · ky заманбап (pertaining to the current time and style) · ru совреме́нный (pertaining to the current time and style) · cs moderní (pertaining to the current time and style) · bg съвреме́нен (pertaining to the current time and style) · fi uudenaikainen (pertaining to the current time and style) · bg моде́рен (pertaining to the current time and style) · lv moderns (pertaining to the current time and style) · tr muasır (pertaining to the current time and style) · tt чакташ (pertaining to the current time and style) · fr moderne (pertaining to the current time and style) · dsb moderny (pertaining to the current time and style) · hi आधुनिक (pertaining to the current time and style) · fi moderni (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · pt moderno (pertaining to the current time and style) · nl hedendaags (pertaining to the current time and style) · sh savremen (pertaining to the current time and style) · cmn 現代的 /现代的 (pertaining to the current time and style) · de modern (pertaining to the current time and style) · ga nua-aoiseach (pertaining to the current time and style) · sh модеран (pertaining to the current time and style) · gd ùr-nodha (pertaining to the current time and style) · km សម័យថ្មី (pertaining to the current time and style) · id mutakhir (pertaining to the current time and style) · izh nykyaikain (pertaining to the current time and style) · ru совреме́нный (pertaining to history from c. 1800 onwards) · ja 近代的 (pertaining to the current time and style) · sl sodoben (pertaining to the current time and style) · or ଆଧୁନିକ (pertaining to the current time and style) · ar عَصْرِيّ (pertaining to the current time and style) · cs současný (pertaining to the current time and style) · gl moderno (pertaining to the current time and style)

modern en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɔd.ən/ (Australia)
• [ˈmɔd.n̩] (Australia)
• [ˈmɔ̟d.n̩] (New-Zealand)
• mŏdʹərn (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈmɒd.ən/ (New-Zealand)
• /ˈmɑ.dɚn/ (Atlantic-Canada, General-American)
• [ˈmɒd.n̩] (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈmɒd.ən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (California) audio
• /ˈmɒd.ɚn/ (Canada, dialectal) of the US

Etymology

From Middle French moderne, from Late Latin modernus; from Latin modo (“just now”), originally ablative of modus (“measure”); hence, by measure, "just now". See also mode.

Meanings

1. Someone who lives in modern times.
   • Even though we moderns can never crawl inside the skin of the ancient and think and feel as he did […] we must as historians make the attempt. 1956, John Albert Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt, page 144:
   • What the moderns could mean by their suppression of the final couplet's repeatings, cannot be conceiv'd […] 1779, Edward Capell, John Collins, Notes and various readings to Shakespeare:
   • Yeats understood these ancient mysteries better than any modern. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 181:
   • They at least had the immense and mighty imagination of which I speak; they could unthink the past. They could uncreate the Fall. With a reverence which moderns might think impudence, they could uncreate the Creation. 1930, G. K. Chesterton, The Resurrection of Rome:
   • The only supernatural agents which can in any manner be allowed to us moderns, are ghosts; but of these I would advise an author to be extremely sparing. 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

Forms