modernity

noun

mo·​der·​ni·​ty mə-ˈdər-nə-tē 

mä-, 

-ˈder- 

1

: the quality or state of being or appearing to be modern

Such details as street lamps, telephone booths, mailboxes and manhole covers have been expensively recreated to recall a past that makes even young Hungarians nostalgic and Western tourists regret the flashy modernity of their cities.

—Henry Kamm

His early work portrayed the idiosyncratic behavior of his zany upper-class family whose wealth and quest for modernity impelled them to try out all the latest inventions and devices of the time, from electric razors to automobiles to flying machines.

—Naomi Rosenblum

2

: the modern era or world and especially the ideas and attitudes associated with the modern world

For all his conservatism, Henry Adams's encounter with modernity led neither to romantic antiquarianism … nor to an intensified commitment to those very liberal arts that were under siege in a market society.

—Peter N. Miller

Examples of modernity in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Bayly, unimpressed by the thirteen colonies’ influence, argued that the main engine of political modernity wasn’t a revolution in ideas but one in arms. —Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 4 May 2026

As a city that is always negotiating with modernity, the tradition of jol khabar remains a comforting anchor, binding generations to their cultural roots and evoking nostalgia. —Madhushree Basu Roy, Saveur, 30 Apr. 2026

Many stay, drawn to the small town that found a way to scrape its way through modernity, not without challenges past and present, but here anyway. —Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 30 Apr. 2026

At times, the tonal clash introduced by those pops of ultra-modernity borders on absurdism. —Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 30 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1635, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for modernity

• eternity
• fraternity
• maternity
• paternity
• confraternity
• taciturnity