incumbent adjective (NECESSARY). âº ânecessary: [+ to infinitive] It is incumbent upon (= ânecessary for) all of us to âcreate a âsafe âcommunity. (Definition of incumbent from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary Â© Cambridge University Press).ncumbent noun [C]. âº the âperson who has or had a âparticular âofficial âposition: the first/last/âprevious incumbent The âpresent incumbent (of the âpost) is âdue to âretire next âmonth. (Definition of incumbent from the Cambridge Advanced Learnerâs Dictionary & Thesaurus Â© Cambridge University Press).
Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition: Modernity. Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance.
Some writers have suggested there is more than one possible modernity, given the unsettled nature of the term and of history itself. Charles Baudelaire is credited with coining the term modernity (modernitÃ©) in his 1864 essay The Painter of Modern Life, to designate the fleeting, ephemeral experience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsibility art has to capture that experience.