Word.ws English Dictionary

Melvillean

Melvillean adjective: associated with the Scottish education reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622).

Adjective

Melvillean (comparative more Melvillean, superlative most Melvillean)

  1. Associated with the Scottish education reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622).
    • the Melvillean reforms of the 16th century
  2. In a manner reminiscent of the writings of Herman Melville (1819–1891), especially the character Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick.
    • He had a Melvillean obsession.

Noun

Melvillean (plural Melvilleans)

  1. (historical) A supporter of Scottish education reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622).
  2. An admirer or scholar of the works of Herman Melville (1819–1891).
    • But for me, and apparently for the Melvilleans who every summer trek up Monument Mountain on the first Sunday of August, the mountain has become a monument not to star-crossed Iroquois lovers but to the meeting of Hawthorne and Melville. Starting the easy hike up Monument Mountain on a sunny day in...1998, Ian Marshall, “Greylock and the Whale”, in Story Line: Exploring the Literature of the Appalachian Trail, Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, →ISBN, page 163
    • Reciprocating Melville’s interest in Japan, enthusiastic Japanese Melvilleans have ever pursued his works, through which they seek to understand the cultural background of Western civilization.2001, Arimichi Makino, “Melville among Japanese Melvilleans”, in Sanford E. Marovitz, A[thanasios] C. Christodoulou, editors, Melville “among the Nations”: Proceedings of an International Conference...

Forms of Melvillean

Adjective
comparativemore Melvillean
superlativemost Melvillean
alternative formMelvillian
Noun
pluralMelvilleans

Origin of Melvillean

From Melville + -an or -ean.

Questions about Melvillean

What does Melvillean mean?
Melvillean means associated with the Scottish education reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622).
What part of speech is Melvillean?
Melvillean can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near Melvillean in the dictionary

  1. Melverton
  2. Melvertons
  3. Melvill
  4. Melville
  5. Melville Forest
  6. Melvillean
  7. Melvilleans
  8. Melvilles
  9. Melvillian
  10. Melvillians
  11. melvin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Melvillean (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.

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