fin de siècle

adj, noun — 3 senses

fin de siècle

adj

/ˌfæn də siˈɛklə/ · /-siˈɛkəl/

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

1

Pertaining to the close of the 19th century, usually suggesting a literary and artistic climate of modernism, world-weariness, and self-indulgence.

  • 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.1990, Mikulas Teich, Roy Porter, Fin de Siècle and Its Legacy, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 3:
2

Broadly Pertaining to the close of the 20th (or any other) century.

  • 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?1991, Douglas Coupland, “Eat Your Parents”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 85:

fin de siècle

noun

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

1

The closing era of any century; (loosely) the end of any era.

  • 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.2020 June 24, Tom McTague, “The Decline of the American World”, in The Atlantic:
Related terms
turn of the century

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.