Lovecraftian
/lʌvˈkɹæfti.ən/
Lovecraftian adjective: frighteningly monstrous and otherworldly, sometimes with terrifyingly unnatural anatomy.
Adjective
Lovecraftian (comparative more Lovecraftian, superlative most Lovecraftian)
- Frighteningly monstrous and otherworldly, sometimes with terrifyingly unnatural anatomy.
- The tip of the thing was equipped with long whiplike appendages that writhed around a loose, drooling, toothless mouth large enough to swallow a man whole...Perhaps this was the only thing that the escaping Lovecraftian entity had thus far been able to extrude between the opening Gates — this one...1984, Dean R. Koontz, Darkfall, page 362
- Of, pertaining to, or emulating the style or works of author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937).
- Lovecraftian horror
- Lovecraftian fiction
Noun
Lovecraftian (plural Lovecraftians)
- A fan of American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937).
- For zealous Lovecraftians there are a few choice tidbits—a short autobiography, his commonplace book, and his “History and Chronology of the Necronomicon.”1944, The New York Times Book Review, page 19
- Finally, we can draw a definitive fourth circle, at the absolute heart of HPL’s myth, which contains what most rabid Lovecraftians continue to call, almost in spite of themselves, the “great texts.”2005, Michel Houellebecq, translated by Dorna Khazeni, H. P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life, Cernunnos, Abrams Books, published 2019, →ISBN
Examples of Lovecraftian in a sentence
- For one thing, the vision of the story is pure Lovecraftian cosmic pessimism.2006, A. Blackwood, August Derleth, The Ithaqua Cycle, page 102:
- Lovecraftian horror-style lies about the interior of Emily Dickinson’s house, lies that motivated her son’s break-in to begin with.2007 September 23, David Bowman, “Torchlit Crit”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Forms of Lovecraftian
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more Lovecraftian |
| superlative | most Lovecraftian |
| Noun | |
| plural | Lovecraftians |
Origin of Lovecraftian
From Lovecraft + -ian, in reference to H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), an American author of fantasy, horror, and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives.
Questions about Lovecraftian
- What does Lovecraftian mean?
- Lovecraftian means frighteningly monstrous and otherworldly, sometimes with terrifyingly unnatural anatomy.
- How do you use Lovecraftian in a sentence?
- For one thing, the vision of the story is pure Lovecraftian cosmic pessimism.
- What part of speech is Lovecraftian?
- Lovecraftian can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce Lovecraftian?
- Lovecraftian is pronounced /lʌvˈkɹæfti.ən/.
Words near Lovecraftian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Lovecraftian (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-Lovecraftian.ogg.
Cite this entry: “Lovecraftian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lovecraftian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.