mannerism
/ˈmænəˌɹɪzəm/ noun
Forms mannerisms
- noun A noticeable personal habit, a verbal or other (often, but not necessarily unconscious) habitual behavior peculiar to an individual.
- noun Exaggerated or affected style in art, speech, or other behavior.
- noun (art, literature) In literature, an ostentatious and unnatural style of the second half of the sixteenth century. In the contemporary criticism, described as a negation of the classicist equilibrium, pre-Baroque, and deforming expressiveness.
- noun (art, literature) In fine art, a style that is inspired by previous models, aiming to reproduce subjects in an expressive language.
- noun (art) A style of art developed at the end of the High Renaissance, characterized by the deliberate distortion and exaggeration of perspective and especially the elongation of figures.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Italian manierismo, from maniera, coined by Luigi Lanzi at the end of the 18ᵗʰ century.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Adherence to a peculiar style or manner; a characteristic mode of action, bearing, or treatment, carried to excess, especially in literature or art. Mannerism is pardonable,and is sometimes even agreeable, when the manner, though vicious, is natural . . . . But a mannerism which does not sit easy on the mannerist, which has been adopted on principle, and which can be sustained only by constant effort, is always offensive. Macaulay.
Etymology [Cf. F. maniérisme.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mannerism”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details