# modern

Pronunciation: US say "MOD-urn" /ˈmɑdɚn/; UK say "MOD-uhn" /ˈmɒd(ə)n/

## Adjective

1. Belonging to the present or recent period in time and style, rather than to ancient or older times.
   - Simple: Belonging to the present time or recent times, not to long ago.
   - _The museum's modern wing contrasts sharply with its older galleries._
   - _Modern medicine has extended life expectancy in much of the world._
2. Belonging to the period of history following the Middle Ages, conventionally from about 1500 to the present, as historians use the term.
   - Simple: Belonging to the time in history after the Middle Ages, from about the year 1500 up to now.
   - _Her thesis focused on modern European politics in the decades after 1800._
   - _The course divides the past into ancient, medieval, and modern periods._

## Noun

3. A person who lives in the present age, as contrasted with people of earlier historical eras.
   - Simple: A person who lives in present-day times, not in the past.
   - _The novel imagines how a modern would react to life in a medieval town._
   - _Unlike the ancients, moderns take electricity and instant communication for granted._

## Origin

Latin modus ("measure") had the ablative form modo, which came to mean "just now," the idea being "by measure." From modo came Late Latin modernus, then Middle French moderne.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/modern (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).