Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The spirit of the age; the taste, outlook, and spirit characteristic of a period.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from German Zeitgeist ("time-spirit").

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Examples

Comments

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  • I wonder why this word is so popular?

    December 31, 2006

  • blame the zeitgeist.

    January 3, 2007

  • I blame it on the boogie.

    January 5, 2007

  • It's the new S-word! Something about obscure German words that attracts the trendies, I guess.

    October 23, 2007

  • Maybe it's because they usually sound so psychological-like.

    October 23, 2007

  • Because there is a fantastic bar with a patio in San Francisco called Zeitgeist.

    February 21, 2008

  • Find grant money!! (Major 50 Cent word.)

    June 28, 2008

  • Awesome documentary named Zeitgeist.

    Wikipedia:

    "... is a German language expression literally translated: Zeit, time; Geist, spirit, meaning "the spirit of the age and its society"."

    March 17, 2009

  • Let me just take a moment to express my love for Wordnik's new Zeitgeist page, especially the tagline. "Watch your language." It's brilliant, and elegant. Thank you, John!

    October 20, 2009

  • Absolutely, nuxiy!

    The Zeitgeist documetaries are definitely awesome!

    That's actually how I ended up finding this wonderful site; I was googling Zeitgeist because someone told me I could watch the documentaries online for free, but didn't know where to find them. I ended up clicking the wrong link and went to the Wordnik Zeitgeist page. Was a definite meant-to-be moment, as I fell in love with the odd conversations that I found in the oddest places on this site.

    I ended up returning to google to find the documentaries, eventually I did, and funnily enough, the website was easy as "zeitgeistmovie.com"

    oh dear...

    June 20, 2010

  • Note on semantic correlation of zeitgeist with ethos: though I believe they can be used interchangeably to signify the distinctive character, outlook, "spirit of the time", etc.; zeitgeist tends to more so refer to the past.

    December 17, 2010

  • Kind of sorry to see that the "Zeitgeist" page on Wordnik has become community in my absence. :(

    March 13, 2011

  • not seeting the zeitgeist page makes me sad. I like clicking on "Zeitgeist" more so than boring "Community"

    March 27, 2011