The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fin de siecle \Fin` de si[`e]"cle\ [F.] Lit., end of the century; -- mostly used adjectively in English to signify: belonging to, or characteristic of, the close of the 19th century. At that time the phrase was also intended to imply ``modern'' or ``up-to-date;'' as, fin-de-si[`e]cle ideas.
Note: As the twentieth century comes to a close, the meaning may change.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1890, from French fin de siècle "end of century," phrase used as an adjective. At the time it meant "modern;" now it means "from the 1890s." "App. first in title of a comedy, Paris fin de siècle, produced at the Gymnase, Feb. 1890" [Weekley]. French siècle "century, age" is from Latin saeculum (see secular).
Wiktionary
a. Pertaining to the close of the 19th century, usually suggesting the literary and artistic climate of modernism, world-weariness, and self-indulgence.
WordNet
adj. relating to or characteristic of the end of a century (especially the end of the 19th century); "fin de siecle art"
Wikipedia
Fin de siècle is French for end of the century, a term which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom turn of the century and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. The term is typically used to refer to the end of the 19th century. This period was widely thought to be a period of degeneration, but at the same time a period of hope for a new beginning. The "spirit" of fin de siècle often refers to the cultural hallmarks that were recognized as prominent in the 1880s and 1890s, including ennui, cynicism, pessimism, and "...a widespread belief that civilization leads to decadence."
The term "fin de siècle" is commonly applied to French art and artists, as the traits of the culture first appeared there, but the movement affected many European countries. The term becomes applicable to the sentiments and traits associated with the culture, as opposed to focusing solely on the movement's initial recognition in France. The ideas and concerns developed by fin de siècle artists provided the impetus for movements such as symbolism and modernism.
The themes of fin de siècle political culture were very controversial and have been cited as a major influence on fascism and as a generator of the science of geopolitics, including the theory of lebensraum. The major political theme of the era was that of revolt against materialism, rationalism, positivism, bourgeois society, and liberal democracy. The fin-de-siècle generation supported emotionalism, irrationalism, subjectivism, and vitalism, while the mindset of the age saw civilization as being in a crisis that required a massive and total solution.
Fin de Siècle is the sixth album by The Divine Comedy, released in 1998.
Fin de siecle is the second live album by Polish gothic rock band Closterkeller. It was released on February 29, 2000 in Poland through Polskie Radio. The album was recorded on October, 1999 at Program 3 Polskiego Radia studio, Warsaw. The cover art was created by Anja Orthodox and Marti Pietraszkiewicz, and fotos by Dariusz Kawka and Anja Orthodox.
Fin de siècle is a French term meaning the end of the century.
Fin de siècle may also refer to:
- Fin de Siècle (album), 1998 pop album by The Divine Comedy
- Fin de siecle (album), 2000 Gothic rock album by Closterkeller
- Fin-de-siècle Vienna, 1980 non-fiction book by Carl E. Schorske
Usage examples of "fin de siecle".
There's also the Grand Fin de Siecle Cotillion on New Year's Eve as we swing into yet another new century.
The biospheric fragment in which the dome was set had to be guarded from contamination because it was, in spite of its relative geographical isolation, too near a neighbor that was the most dangerous and malign of all alien environments: the fin de siecle cities of the twenty-fifth century.
Budapest showed itself in jumbled buildings of pale stone, elaborately iced like birthday cakes, carved into ornamental lintels and cornices, quaintly cobbled streets, wrought-iron balconies with flowerpots, coffeehouses illuminated by elaborate chandeliers whose lemon light revealed ruddy wood-paneled walls, brilliant splashes of glass, stained, etched into fin de siecle patterns.