What does dadaist mean?
A dadaist is an artist, writer, or performer connected with Dada, the radical avant-garde movement that emerged during the First World War. Rejecting logic, craftsmanship, and the idea of art as beauty, dadaists embraced nonsense, chance operations, collage, and provocative gestures — Marcel Duchamp's signed readymade urinal being the most notorious example. Today the word describes both historical figures of the movement and any creator whose work shares its absurdist, anti-establishment energy. Calling someone a dadaist signals irreverence toward convention rather than membership in a formal school. Because it can function adjectivally too — 'a dadaist film', 'a dadaist prank' — the word remains useful shorthand wherever deliberate absurdity is deployed to unsettle assumptions about what art, language, or culture ought to be.
A person associated with the Dada movement, especially an artist or writer who created work in its absurdist, anti-traditional style.
"Tristan Tzara was one of the founding dadaists of the Zurich circle."
Often used attributively ('a dadaist collage') to mean 'in the style of Dada'.
Relating to, characteristic of, or in the style of the Dada movement.
"The exhibition featured dadaist collages made entirely from newspaper clippings."
Standard plural form, used when referring to multiple adherents of the movement.
"The Berlin dadaists were far more overtly political than their Zurich counterparts."
The word 'dada' itself was reportedly chosen at random from a dictionary, which tells you almost everything you need to know about what a dadaist believes.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dadaist
The word derives from 'dada', the name adopted by the Dada movement when it coalesced around 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich among figures such as Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball. The origin of the word 'dada' itself is famously uncertain: accounts variously credit a random stab at a French–German dictionary (where it means 'hobbyhorse'), a child's babbling word, or a deliberately meaningless choice. From this root came 'dadaism', denoting the movement itself, and 'dadaist', denoting its adherents; related terms such as 'neo-dadaism' later extended the family.
How dadaist is actually used
The noun 'dadaist' is used both historically, for members of the Dada movement active roughly between 1916 and the mid-1920s, and more loosely for contemporary artists whose work channels its absurdist spirit. It also functions adjectivally in phrases such as 'a dadaist gesture'.
Easily confused with dadaist
A dadaist is a person who practises or embodies the ideas of Dada, while dadaism is the name of the artistic and literary movement itself.