Classicism
Etymology
From Latin “classicus,” originally denoting the highest class of Roman citizen, which came to mean “first-rate” and then “of the standard-setting ancient authors.” So a “classic” is literally something top-class. Classicism as a named aesthetic sharpened especially in contrast to the emotional excess of Romanticism.
noun · /KLAS-ih-sizm/
An approach in art and literature that takes ancient Greek and Roman works as models of order, harmony, and restraint.
What it names
The enduring pull toward balance and proven form — the taste that treats the ancients as a standard worth returning to.
Example
The building’s columns and strict symmetry are textbook classicism.
Related idea
Distinguish it from neoclassicism, the specific 18th-century revival of classical style; classicism is the broader, recurring impulse to emulate the ancients across many eras.