po-mo

po-mo noun: syllabic abbreviation of postmodernism.

Noun (1)

po-mo (uncountable)

Syllabic abbreviation of postmodernism.
- Po-mo has lost its grip. We can't seem to get enough mid-century modern in design, advertising and furniture (those 1929 Barcelona chairs by Mies are perennially chic).2001, Newsweek - Volume 137, page 82
- However, the recent appearance of a Web site entitled “Everything Postmodern,” a regularly updated listing of “po-mo” on the Internet, suggests neither endings nor beginnings.2006, Fred Newman, Lois Holzman, End Of Knowing, →ISBN, page 1

po-mo (comparative more po-mo, superlative most po-mo)

Syllabic abbreviation of postmodern.
- This is also becoming very po-mo that we've got ahead of ourselves and we've skipped over some of your fiction.2004, Maria Fusco, Ian Hunt, Put about: A Critical Anthology on Independent Publishing, page 76
- After reading the manuscript of this book, her feeling is that the current fans are 'more po-mo', more diverse, more ironic, more able to laugh at themselves than those a decade earlier; but the earlier legacy certainly continues, and it was very evident during the research for this book.2005, Henry Jenkins, John Tulloch, Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Star Trek and Doctor Who

Po-Mo (uncountable)

(alternative) Alternative form of postmodernism.
- Describing his design as 'an eclectic composition', he had not yet heard of Post-Modernism, but this project featured in an exhibition on the subject. Andreas Papadakis, who took over the magazine Architectural Design in the 1970s and published many of the pioneers of Po-Mo, said: 'The true...1999, The Architects' Journal - Volume 209, page 22
- In perhaps the only useful instrument Po-Mo has left us, it is indispensable that the spiral be there as a model but it is also indispensable that it be "under erasure" - as it is in Marx, who simultaneously expects collapse of capitalism and works for revolution.2010, Darko Suvin, Defined by a Hollow, →ISBN

Po-Mo (comparative more Po-Mo, superlative most Po-Mo)

(alternative) Alternative form of postmodern.
- If anyone should edit a book of Po-Mo texts ("innovative fiction, comic book art, unique graphics, and various unclassifiable texts written by the most radical, subversive literary talents of the postmodern new wave") it's probably Larry McCaffery, and his Avant-Pop: Fiction For A Daydream Nation...1995, David Johnson, Rudolfo A. Anaya, Blue Mesa Review, No Six, →ISBN, page 210
- Nothing could be less Po-Mo, or more elegant, something project architect Bruce Wood was quick to point to when I raised the issue of how differently one might detail this sort of "veneer" brick wall from the old-fashioned fully structural kind: between Kallmann's point and Wood's are a host of...1999, Douglass Shand-Tucci, Built in Boston: City and Suburb, 1800-2000, →ISBN, page 357

Josh got sidetracked somehow onto whether or not “Delia's Gone” is too po-mo to be misogynist, and I went home early.2014, Gemma Files, We Will All Go Down Together, →ISBN:
Now the band has released its most po-mo puzzle box of anguish yet.2015 July 31, Spencer Kornhaber, “Titus Andronicus and the Joy of Angst”, in The Atlantic:

A truncation.

Truncation

What does po-mo mean?: Po-mo means syllabic abbreviation of postmodernism.
How do you use po-mo in a sentence?: Josh got sidetracked somehow onto whether or not “Delia's Gone” is too po-mo to be misogynist, and I went home early.
What part of speech is po-mo?: Po-mo can be a noun or an adjective.

Adapted from Wiktionary: po-mo (page history and authors); Po-Mo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “po-mo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/po-mo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.