recentism

R1E1C3E1N1T1I1S1M3

noun

A focus on recent events to the exclusion of history.

Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounrecentism (uncountable)
  1. rareuncountableA focus on recent events to the exclusion of history.

    I grant that I might here be suffering from "recentism" — that is, attributing too-great significance to very recent events.

    1990, Sippanon Kētthat, Robert B. Textor, William Klausner, The Middle Path for the Future of Thailand, page 96
    2 more examples

    […]the tendency in the discipline of international relations to bolster endemic ethnocentrism with temporal short-sightedness – the flaws of parochialism and recentism[…]

    2007, Ken Booth, Theory of World Security, page 77

    Those who are persuaded by the breakup argument are victims of “recentism” — they are unduly influenced by the recent past and not sufficiently cognizant of previous history[…]

    2008, Eamonn Fingleton, In the Jaws of the Dragon

Origin

From recent + -ism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

recentism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recentism

MLA

“recentism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recentism. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “recentism,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/recentism.

Source: recentism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.