Renaissance Meaning

/ɹəˈneɪs(ə)ns/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA rebirth or revival.

nounAlternative letter-case form of Renaissance.

The Renaissance established the dignity of man.
The sculptor belongs to the Renaissance school.
Renaissance comedies are staged in the town square.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The city experienced a cultural ____ with new art and music in the 1920s.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The city experienced a cultural ____ in the 1990s, with new galleries, theatres, and music venues opening.

Etymology tree French renaissancebor. English renaissance Borrowed from French renaissance.

"On the other hand, the nationalitarian phenomenon is one in which the struggle against the imperialist powers of occupation has as its object, beyond the clearing of the national territory, the independence and sovereignty of the national State, uprooting in depth the positions of the ex-colonial power— the reconquest of the power of decision in all domains of national life, the prelude to that reconquest of identity which is at the heart of the renaissance undertaken on the basis of fundamental national demands, and ceaselessly contested, by every means available, on every level, and notably on the internal level'." — 1981, Anouar Abdel-Malek, Social Dialectics: Nation and Revolution, page 13:
"The news of her death is shocking, in part, because she was in the midst of a late-career renaissance. It seemed possible that we would see her continue to play some of these characters, not to mention a raft of new ones, for another generation." — 2026 January 30, Judy Berman, “Catherine O’Hara Portrayed the Vain and Delusional With a Radical Lack of Vanity”, in TIME, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2026:
"Gelernter believes that computers and their mirror-world capabilities will usher in a Renaissance of the human spirit." — 1995 May 21, Steven Levy, “The Unabomber and David Gelernter”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"Out of every Dark Age there emerged new Renaissances of civilization (Goody 2010; Modelski 2007), and over time they expanded the boundaries of civilization leading to the formation of new empires such as the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires in the west, and similar new empires in east and south-east Asia (China and later empires in Burma, Korea, and Japan), Africa (the Bantu), and south America (the Incas)." — 2018, Kristian Kristiansen, “Theorizing Trade and Civilization”, in Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Lindkvist, Janken Myrdal, editors, Trade and Civilisation: Economic Networks and Cultural Ties, from Prehistory to the Early Modern Era, Cambridge, Cambs.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, pages 18–19:
"The Renaissance Is Having a Renaissance [title]" — 2023 July 10, Rachel Wetzler, “The Renaissance Is Having a Renaissance”, in The New York Times Styles Magazine, →ISSN:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The city experienced a cultural ____ with new art and music in the 1920s.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The city experienced a cultural ____ in the 1990s, with new galleries, theatres, and music venues opening.

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