Standard Lemma guide

classicism

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • CMU ARPABET: K L AE1 S IH0 S IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

All the classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the aspects of simplicity, elegance and proportion.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Classical scholarship.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A Latin or Ancient Greek expression used in an English sentence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a movement in literature and art during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe that favored rationality and restraint and strict forms

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • classicism often derived its models from the ancient Greeks and Romans

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: classicalism

Antonyms: Romanticism

Broader terms: artistic style, idiom, humanistic discipline, humanities, liberal arts, arts

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kelh1-der. Proto-Italic *klāssis Latin classis Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin classicuslbor. French classiquebor. English classic Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English classicism From classic + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: կլասիցիզմ (klasicʻizm) — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Armenian: դասականություն (dasakanutʻyun) — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Catalan: classicisme — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Chinese Mandarin: 古典主義 /古典主义 (gǔdiǎnzhǔyì) — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Czech: klasicismus — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Finnish: klassismi — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • French: classicisme — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • German: Klassizismus — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Greek: κλασικισμός (klasikismós) — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Italian: classicismo — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Polish: klasycyzm — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Portuguese: classicismo — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Russian: классици́зм (klassicízm) — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Sicilian: classicìsimu — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Spanish: clasicismo — classical traditions of the art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Chinese Mandarin: 古希臘與古羅馬文化研究 /古希腊与古罗马文化研究 (Gǔ Xīlà yǔ Gǔ Luómǎ wénhuà yánjiū) — classical scholarship
  • Finnish: klassismi — classical scholarship
  • Russian: класси́ческое образова́ние (klassíčeskoje obrazovánije) — classical scholarship
  • Chinese Mandarin: 古典用語 /古典用语 (gǔdiǎn yòngyǔ) — Latin or Ancient Greek expression used in an English sentence
  • Finnish: klassismi — Latin or Ancient Greek expression used in an English sentence
Real reading context

classicism in complete knowledge articles