fin de siècle

See also: fin-de-siecle and fin-de-siècle

English

Alternative forms

• fin-de-siècle

Etymology

Borrowed from French fin-de-siècle (literally “end of the century”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌfæ̃ də ˈsjɛ.klə/, /ˌfæn də ˈsjɛ.klə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

fin de siècle (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to the close of the 19th century, usually suggesting a literary and artistic climate of modernism, world-weariness, and self-indulgence.
   • 1990, Mikulas Teich, Roy Porter, Fin de Siècle and Its Legacy, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 3:

     The fin-de-siècle phenomenon has, of course, received considerable attention from historians in the recent past—a testament to its appeal. […] They also tend to concentrate on individual as well as social alienation as particularly characteristic of the fin-de-siècle feeling.

2. (by extension) Pertaining to the close of the 20th (or any other) century.
   • 1991, Douglas Coupland, “Eat Your Parents”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC:

     And, Dag, have you ever noticed that your bungalow looks more like it belongs to a pair of Eisenhower era Allentown, Pennsylvania newlyweds than it does to a fin de siècle existentialist poseur?

Noun

fin de siècle (plural fins de siècle)

1. The end of an era.
   • 2020 June 24, Tom McTague, “The Decline of the American World”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     From these conversations, most of which took place on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, a picture emerged in which America's closest allies are looking on with a kind of stunned incomprehension, unsure of what will happen, what it means, and what they should do, largely bound together with angst and a shared sense, as one influential adviser told me, that America and the West are approaching something of a fin de siècle.

Further reading

• fin de siècle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French fin-de-siècle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ̃ dɛ ˈsjɛkl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

fin de siècle m inan

1. (art, historical, literature) fin de siècle (literary and artistic climate of modernism, world-weariness, and self-indulgence)

Declension

Declension of fin de siècle

	singular
nominative	fin de siècle
genitive	fin de siècle'u
dative	fin de siècle'owi
accusative	fin de siècle
instrumental	fin de siècle'em
locative	fin de siècle'u
vocative	fin de siècle'u

Derived terms

adjective

• findesieclowy

 

nouns

• findesieclista
• findesieclistka

 

Further reading

• fin de siècle in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• fin de siècle in Polish dictionaries at PWN