noun · 3 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.
General-American:/ɛksˈpɹɛˈʃən.ɪzm/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:IH0 K S P R EH1 SH AH0 N IH2 Z AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A movement in the arts in which the artist did not depict objective reality, but rather a subjective expression of their inner experiences.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A somewhat analogous genre in early 20th century music.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
an art movement early in the 20th century; the artist's subjective expression of inner experiences was emphasized; an inner feeling was expressed through a distorted rendition of reality
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: artistic movement, art movement
Narrower terms: neoexpressionism, supra expressionism
History
Etymology
Borrowed from French expressionnisme, equivalent to expression + -ism.
Across languages
Translations
36 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
ekspressionisme
— movement in the arts
Albanian:
ekspresionizëm
— movement in the arts
Arabic:
تَعْبِيرِيَّة
(taʕbīriyya)
— movement in the arts
Armenian:
էքսպրեսիոնիզմ
(ēkʻspresionizm)
— movement in the arts
Bulgarian:
експресиони́зъм
(ekspresionízǎm)
— movement in the arts
Catalan:
expressionisme
— movement in the arts
Chinese Mandarin:
表現主義 /表现主义
(biǎoxiànzhǔyì)
— movement in the arts
Dutch:
expressionisme
— movement in the arts
Finnish:
ekspressionismi
— movement in the arts
French:
expressionnisme
— movement in the arts
German:
Expressionismus
— movement in the arts
Hungarian:
expresszionizmus
— movement in the arts
Icelandic:
expressjónismi
— movement in the arts
Italian:
espressionismo
— movement in the arts
Japanese:
表現主義
(hyōgenshugi)
— movement in the arts
Māori:
toi pūkare
— movement in the arts
Nepali:
अभिव्यक्तिवाद
(abhivyaktivād)
— movement in the arts
Norman:
expressionnisme
— movement in the arts
Polish:
ekspresjonizm
— movement in the arts
Portuguese:
expressionismo
— movement in the arts
Romanian:
expresionism
— movement in the arts
Russian:
экспрессиони́зм
(ekspressionízm)
— movement in the arts
Serbo-Croatian:
експресионѝзам
— movement in the arts
Serbo-Croatian:
ekspresionìzam
— movement in the arts
Spanish:
expresionismo
— movement in the arts
Swedish:
expressionism
— movement in the arts
Ukrainian:
експресіоні́зм
(ekspresionízm)
— movement in the arts
Chinese Mandarin:
表現主義 /表现主义
(biǎoxiànzhǔyì)
— genre in music
Dutch:
expressionisme
— genre in music
Finnish:
ekspressionismi
— genre in music
German:
Expressionismus
— genre in music
Japanese:
表現主義音楽
(hyōgenshugi ongaku)
— genre in music
Māori:
puoro pukare
— genre in music
Russian:
экспрессиони́зм
(ekspressionízm)
— genre in music
