Word of the Day

: June 28, 2013

risorgimento

noun ree-zor-jih-MEN-toh

What It Means

1 : the 19th century movement for Italian political unity

2 : a time of renewal or renaissance : revival

risorgimento in Context

The musician's heirs hope the new biography and CD box set will spark a risorgimento of interest in the long-forgotten songwriter.

"The daughter of a small grocer, [Margaret Thatcher] led a fervent bourgeois Risorgimento. She was the voice of the ambitious middle class." - From an article by David Brooks in The Times of Trenton (New Jersey), April 12, 2013

Did You Know?

During the period of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars (1796-1815), the French dominated Italy and introduced many new reforms to the Italian states. After the wars, the states were restored to their former rulers, the Austrians, and took on a conservative character. In response, a number of secret societies arose as part of an ideological and literary movement in support of a united Italy free of foreign domination. This movement was given the name "Risorgimento," which literally translates from Italian as "rising again." Although most modern use of the term still refers to this movement, the word also has another broader meaning in English; it acquired its second sense ("revival") in the mid-20th century. This second sense is occasionally capitalized, as in our quote above, in a nod to the earlier use.