Word of the Day : December 31, 2021

zeitgeist

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noun TSYTE-gyste

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What It Means

Zeitgeist refers to the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.

// Although set in the 1980s, the movie reflects the feelings and zeitgeist of today.

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zeitgeist in Context

"The lead single and opening track, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' has been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify. Its accompanying music video has been viewed more than 1 billion times on YouTube. 'Nevermind' is the defining album of an era and generation, an embodiment of the cultural zeitgeist of the 1990s." — Hickory Daily Record (North Carolina), 28 Nov. 2021

Did You Know?

Scholars have long maintained that each era has a unique spirit, a nature or climate that sets it apart from all other epochs. In German, such a spirit is known as Zeitgeist, from the German words Zeit, meaning "time," and Geist, meaning "spirit" or "ghost."