classical
/ˈklasɪk(ə)l
/adjective
1Relating to ancient Greek or Latin literature, art, or culture: classical mythology classical Latin...
- He teaches Greek and Latin at all levels, along with courses in classical mythology and Greek literature and culture.
- However, there were other Church Fathers who defended the value of studying classical literature and philosophy.
- But the balance in the secondary schools of Europe was overwhelmingly in favour of classical culture.
Synonyms
ancient Greek, Grecian, Hellenic, Attic;
Latin, ancient Roman
1.1(Of art or architecture) influenced by ancient Greek or Roman forms or principles: the classical house at Buscot Park...
- An educational program was set up, and promising youth were sent on government-sponsored tours of Europe to learn about classical art and architecture.
- Here, his great palace imitated and even incorporated examples of late classical art and architecture.
- I'd been traveling across Greece and Turkey with a small group of college students, studying Byzantine and classical art and architecture.
Synonyms
simple, pure, restrained, plain, austere;
well proportioned, harmonious, balanced, symmetrical, elegant, aesthetic;
Literature Augustan
2Representing an exemplary standard within a traditional and long-established form or style: classical ballet...
- This piece is also the furthest from the traditional style of classical ballet and offers a good reflection of the state of contemporary ballet.
- But one thing is clear: The mood is frivolous, with most designers steering clear of traditional and classical styles and opting instead for adventure.
- It is within such a classical critical tradition of a crisis of ideology that the declining confrontations of labor and capital has brought more radical consequences.
Synonyms
traditional, long-established;
serious, highbrow, heavyweight;
symphonic, concert
informal heavy
2.1Relating to the first significant period of an area of study: classical mechanics...
- Within the field of religion or area studies, there is a difference between emphases in the classical or modern period.
- Did you feel like you were coming in at the last moment of the classical Hollywood period?
- As was common throughout the classical period of Indian mathematics, members of the family acted as teachers to other family members.
3 Physics Relating to or based upon concepts and theories which preceded the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics; Newtonian: classical physics...
- The second term you may recognize to be the kinetic energy of classical Newtonian physics.
- Like all his contemporaries, Hawking was brought up, as a scientist, on the classical ideas of Newton and on relativity theory and quantum physics in their original forms.
- Newton's Law of Gravitation was the beginning of classical field theory.
Usage
See classic (usage)
Derivatives
classicalism
- Our oil paintings have different styles such as classicalism, impressionism and realism.
- At the beginning of the 19th century, for example, the ‘newer’ paradigm of positivism emerged to challenge the ‘older’ paradigm of classicalism.
- The artist used a combination of impressionism and classicalism.
classicality
/ noun ...- The black and white pictures on the wall emulate the sense of classicality.
- After early, Busoni-influenced attempts to ‘reconcile expressionism with new classicality’, Wolpe's music took a more political turn during the early 1930s.
- He postulates that complexity is the key to understanding the emergence of classicality.
Origin
Late 16th century (in the sense 'outstanding of its kind'): from Latin classicus 'belonging to a class' (see classic) + -al.