Word of the Day:

December 31, 2021

zeitgeist

noun TSYTE-gyste

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.

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

More example sentences

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."

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a word for New Year's Eve in Scotland: H _ g _ _ n _ y.

View the Answer