japonicadom

japonicadom noun: the upper class.

Noun

japonicadom (uncountable)

(US, obsolete) the upper class
- It is vain to attempt to describe a New York party within the limits of Japonicadom. Moustached German barons and French counts were there—some Hungarian adventurer trying to throw into his manner some air of Kossuth—a sparing mixture of literary celebrities, not more than one or two, mustn’t risk...1854, Alice Gray, “Little Things”, in Peterson’s Magazine, volume 25, number 6, page 365
- Wall-street cannot pay its notes, and japonicadom must pawn its jewels for bread.1858, Hiram Fuller, Belle Brittan on a Tour, At Newport, and Here and There, page 224

It is vain to attempt to describe a New York party within the limits of Japonicadom.1854, Alice Gray, “Little Things”, in Peterson’s Magazine, volume 25, number 6, page 365:
The Patriarchs will open the ball season on Monday, when all Japonicadom will be supposed present.1889 December 21, “Society Notes”, in The Amusement Bulletin, volume 1, number 12, page 12:

From japonica + -dom. Coined by Nathaniel Parker Willis circa 1849 after the upper class’s then-penchant for wearing japonicas in their hair.

What does japonicadom mean?: Japonicadom means the upper class.
How do you use japonicadom in a sentence?: It is vain to attempt to describe a New York party within the limits of Japonicadom.
What part of speech is japonicadom?: Japonicadom is a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: japonicadom (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: “japonicadom.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/japonicadom. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.