Dictionary:
Zeit·geist (tsīt'gīst', zīt'-)  |
[German : Zeit, time (from Middle High German zīt , from Old High German) + Geist, spirit; see poltergeist.]
| Literary Dictionary: Zeitgeist |
Zeitgeist
| Sports Science and Medicine: zeitgeist |
The spirit of the times; the dominant beliefs of a particular period. The term is usually applied to the study of literature, but it has also been applied to sport (for example, in connection with the current belief that winning is all that matters).
| Obscure Words: zeitgeist |
| Wikipedia: Zeitgeist |
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This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations of additional sources. (September 2009) |
Zeitgeist (German pronunciation: [ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst] (
listen)) (from German Zeit-time and Geist- spirit) is "the spirit of the times" and/or "the spirit of the age." Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambience, morals, and sociocultural direction or mood of an era (similar to the English word mainstream or trend).
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The concept of Zeitgeist goes back to Johann Gottfried Herder and other German Romanticists such as Cornelius Jagdmann, but is best known in relation to Hegel's philosophy of history. In 1769 Herder wrote a critique of the work Genius seculi by the philologist Christian Adolph Klotz and introduced the word Zeitgeist into German as a translation of genius seculi (Latin: genius - "guardian spirit" and saeculi - "of the century").
The German Romanticists habitually tempted to reduce the past to essences and treated the Zeitgeist as a historical character in its own right, rather than a generalized description for an era. Leonard Pitts, Jr., of the Miami Herald, asserts the use of the term as meaning "... perverse era " in a recent OpEd, Miami Herald, 10-2009.
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Look up zeitgeist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Zeitgeist. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved August 7 2009 from [1]
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Zeitgeist |
Français (French)
n. - esprit du temps
Deutsch (German)
n. - Zeitgeist
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - το πνεύμα των καιρών
Italiano (Italian)
spirito dei tempi
Português (Portuguese)
n. - o espírito do tempo (m)
Español (Spanish)
n. - espíritu de la época
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tidsanda
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
时代精神, 时代思潮
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 時代精神, 時代思潮
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 시대 정신, 시대 사조
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - מגמת המחשבה והרגש של התקופה, רוח הזמן
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Sports Science and Medicine. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Copyright © Michael Kent 1998, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Zeitgeist". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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