mannerism

1. 1

   A noticeable personal habit, a verbal or other (often, but not necessarily unconscious) habitual behavior peculiar to an individual.countableuncountable

   • The Inspector looked round. He knew well enough that they were alone in the study at The Turrets, but the action had become something of a mannerism with him.
2. 2

   Exaggerated or affected style in art, speech, or other behavior.countableuncountable

   • artists […] dabblingly pursuing a kind of formalist mannerism merely in the interest of careerism
   • He generally spoke without academic mannerism, though on occasion he dipped into the over-wrought thickets of eduspeak to find words like “antithetical” or “foci” or “interface.”

syn. idiosyncrasy · quirk

1. 1

   In literature, an ostentatious and unnatural style of the second half of the sixteenth century. In the contemporary criticism, described as a negation of the classicist equilibrium, pre-Baroque, and deforming expressiveness.countableuncountable

2. 2

   In fine art, a style that is inspired by previous models, aiming to reproduce subjects in an expressive language.countableuncountable