🕰️ End-of-century mood 🎨 End-of-century style

fin de siècle

9.9

Relating to the mood and art at the end of a century, often the late 1800s

adjective
/fæn də ˈsiːɛkl/

Literature

: fin de siglo

But what does circumcision mean for a Viennese Jewish scientist of the fin de siècle such as Sigmund Freud?

Examples

Thus Freud resolves the double bind in which the Jewish biological scientist of the fin de siècle finds himself.

Academic text (1990)
In the medical literature during the course of the fin de siècle, two of these views dominated.

Academic text (1990)
"Fin de siècle," murmured Lord Henry.

Academic text (2016)
In this fin de siècle phase, the French model for urban replication was Paris during the Second Empire.

Academic text (2000)
The exuberant fin de siècle style is celebrated in a sweeping exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
In this fin de siècle phase, the French model for urban replication was Paris during the Second Empire.
Thus, in fin de siècle civilization, we find ourselves with grave, momentous concerns galore.

Synonyms

fin-de-siècle

vsfin de siècle

Literature

1 9.9

About the end of a century, especially the late 19th century, showing cultural change and moral decline

is more neutral and lacks the sense of decadence or cultural change

Surface Forms

fin de siècle positive

Morphology

fin + de + siècle

If a learner knows the constituents (fin = end, de = of, siècle = century) they can readily derive the literal meaning 'end of the century', so the compositional core is transparent. However, the conventional English use carries stylistic/decadent connotations (fashionable decadence, world‑weariness) that are not predictable from the literal parts, so the phrase is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Fin de siècle comes from French: fin (end) + siècle (century), literally 'end of the century'. Artists at the end of the 1800s used the phrase for a style that mixed beauty and decay, so as an adjective it describes things that feel 'decadent' or 'tired' today.