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the principles or styles characteristic of the literature and art of ancient Greece and Rome.
adherence to such principles.
the style in literature and art, or adherence to its principles (contrasted with ).
Compare (def 7).
a Greek or Latin idiom or form, especially one used in some other language.
scholarship or learning.
Historical Examples

But we must go to his letters to find proof positive of his sympathy with the breaking away from classicism.
The Influence of Old Norse Literature on English Literature Conrad Hjalmar Nordby

It begins with some observations on Romanticism and classicism.
War Letters of a Public-School Boy Paul Jones.

The only point in question was, how to avoid the one-sidedness of classicism.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) Richard Muther

That Christian expression and classicism were incompatible, he never believed.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation Johan Huizinga

To-day, perhaps, a return to classicism is perceptible in his poetry.
mile Verhaeren Stefan Zweig

The spirit of classicism was in the air in the days of Wedgwood.
Chats on Old Earthenware Arthur Hayden

His “Decadence” was the work of a decadent, a decadent of classicism.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) Richard Muther

He received the highest eulogy known to the classicism of the time.
The Marquis D’Argenson: A Study in Criticism Arthur Ogle

Their subject-matter is bucolic or amatory, and, if devotional, their classicism deprives it of the accent of piety.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation Johan Huizinga

The grace of his pictures is modern; their classicism is a disguise.
The History of Modern Painting, Volume 1 (of 4) Richard Muther

noun
a style based on the study of Greek and Roman models, characterized by emotional restraint and regularity of form, associated esp with the 18th century in Europe; the antithesis of romanticism Compare neoclassicism
knowledge or study of the culture of ancient Greece and Rome

a Greek or Latin form or expression
an expression in a modern language, such as English, that is modelled on a Greek or Latin form

n.

“classical style in art or literature,” 1830, from classic + -ism. Related: Classicist.

An approach to aesthetics that favors restraint, rationality, and the use of strict forms in literature, painting, architecture, and other arts. It flourished in ancient Greece and Rome, and throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Classicists often derived their models from the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Note: Classicism is sometimes considered the opposite of romanticism.