zeitgeist
noun
- intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈzaɪtˌɡaɪst/ / /ˈtsaɪtˌɡaɪst/
noun
Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from German Zeitgeist (literally “spirit of the age”).
- The spirit of the age; the taste, outlook, and spirit characteristic of a period.
“She was anchored to that seat by the accumulated indignities of days gone by and the boundless aspirations of generations yet unborn. She was a victim of both the forces of history and the forces of destiny. She had been tracked down by the Zeitgeist—the spirit of the time.”
“After quickly summarizing the zeitgeisten of the Greek, Elizabethan, and early modern periods and their effects on the theatre, Rice turns to the contemporary world.”