zeitgeist

noun

zeit·geist ˈtsīt-ˌgīst ˈzīt-

often capitalized

: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era

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Scholars have long maintained that each era has a unique spirit, a nature or climate that sets it apart from all others. In German, such a spirit is known as Zeitgeist, from the German words Zeit, meaning "time," and Geist, meaning "spirit" or "ghost." (This same Geist, when combined with poltern, meaning "to knock," led to the English word poltergeist referring to a noisy ghost.) It is common nowadays to read about something "tapping into" or "capturing" the zeitgeist, as doing so often entails popularity or profitability in appealing to a great many people, though sometimes the zeitgeist of a particular time and place is only recognized in hindsight, either due to nostalgia or with the benefit of (one hopes) greater wisdom.

Examples of zeitgeist in a Sentence

His songs perfectly captured the zeitgeist of 1960s America.

Recent Examples on the Web

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Suddenly Braced For $37 Trillion Fed Price Earthquake As Trump Suddenly Flips Cardi teased the forthcoming album in a Billboard interview in April and promised something unlike anything currently in the zeitgeist. —Chris Malone Méndez, Forbes.com, 21 June 2025 In a time when bookworms have their own dedicated communities on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, and celebrities from Dua Lipa to Jenna Bush Hager uplift literature through their monthly book clubs, reading is definitely in the zeitgeist. —Carly Tagen-Dye, People.com, 21 June 2025 Yet every so often, as shown by the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson event last summer, boxing still has its moments in the zeitgeist. —Jason Clinkscales, Sportico.com, 20 June 2025 Netflix wants to quickly turn around more documentaries on events in the zeitgeist. —Max Tani, semafor.com, 9 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for zeitgeist