Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The principles or doctrines of esthetics.
- noun Attachment to esthetics; a tendency to indulge and cultivate the sense of the beautiful: often used in a disparaging sense, to imply an exaggerated devotion to the subordinate forms of the beautiful, which often results in mere whimsicality or grotesqueness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun American Alternative spelling of
aestheticism .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"subjects of humanity" seize possession of Goethe's poetry, as they had taken possession of the poetry of Germany with Lessing -- as shown by his whole work up to _Nathan_: for Lessing, the strongest adversary of mere "estheticism," really accomplished what those Anacreontic poets had merely wished to do -- or seemed to wish -- and brought literature into close touch with life.
The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English. Kuno Francke 1892
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In the course of that discussion, extending over a whole week, one of the participants Lee Yearley (a specialist in estheticism and, at the time, professor of religion at Stanford University) raised the question of whether there is ever any justification for killing.
Eberhard Kronhausen and Phyllis Kronhausen: Murder to Prevent "Murder" 2009
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Cross-cultural estheticism: sounds like a nice way to end a year, century or millennium.
Killing Off Kipling 2008
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Instead, he uses their criticism as an excuse to reopen his attack on modern literature's inbred estheticism.
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He also mounts a furious assault on his early master Joyce, whose "hermetic ego" he feels had seduced him into a sterile estheticism.
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In the speech no concrete promises were offered, only general talk of socialism estheticism to rule the country, and the world.
Chavez starts his campaign: price inflation and vote deflation 2006
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We make itjust for fun, estheticism, or anything else but what's this else ?
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In the speech no concrete promises were offered, only general talk of socialism estheticism to rule the country, and the world.
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Both insist that they are JUDGES IN THAT RESPECT, and their estheticism mingling with their commercialism makes a pretty result.
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"It is worthy of remark, however, that the enormously increased demand of late for beautiful books evinces the fact that cultured and wealthy people are growing to appreciate the importance not only of having a good library, but that its quality should embody a degree of estheticism to correspond with the surroundings."
Book-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs Henry H. Harper
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