Word.ws English Dictionary

Partridgian

Partridgian is the alternative spelling of Partridgean.

Meaning of Partridgean

Adjective (1)

Partridgean (comparative more Partridgean, superlative most Partridgean)

  1. (Ireland, UK) Self-important but bathetic; unable to distinguish the meaningful from the trivial and therefore prone to absurdity.
    • Speaking of glaring faults, howsabout Rio Ferdinand’s for starters? This, at least, is one properly footballing ‘Hot Topic’ the Partridgean hacks have managed to find room for, though I note it took him cocking up in an England shirt for them to do so.2009 October 14, Richard Kurt, “Fergie frenzy hides the faults”, in Irish Examiner

Adjective (2)

Partridgean (comparative more Partridgean, superlative most Partridgean)

  1. (derogatory) In the manner or style of lexicographer Eric Partridge (1894–1979).
    • A Partridgean colorfulness is allowed to creep into the etymologies [...] where severer counsel falls back on "etym. uncertain" or "etym. unknown".1982 March 1, Robert Burchfield, “Opening Words: Review of The Macquarie Dictionary”, in The Age, Melbourne, page 11

Forms of Partridgian

comparativemore Partridgian
superlativemost Partridgian

Questions about Partridgian

What is Partridgian the alternative spelling of?
Partridgian is the alternative spelling of Partridgean.

Words near Partridgian in the dictionary

  1. Partridgean
  2. partridgeberries
  3. partridgeberry
  4. partridgelike
  5. partridges
  6. Partridgian
  7. partridging
  8. parts
  9. parts and parcels
  10. parts brass rags
  11. parts company

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Partridgian (page history and authors); Partridgean (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:

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