pickwickian
pickwickian is the alternative letter-case form of Pickwickian.
Adjective capitalized: Pickwickian
Pickwickian (comparative more Pickwickian, superlative most Pickwickian)
- Arbitrary or meaningless (of the usage of a word or phrase).
- The Chairman felt it his imperative duty to demand of the honourable gentleman, whether he had used the expression which had just escaped him in a common sense. Mr. Blotton had no hesitation in saying that he had not—he had used the word in its Pickwickian sense.1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers
- But let us defend the poor battered old language against those who use words in private Pickwickian senses of their own[…]1977, Christopher Derrick, Escape from Scepticism: Liberal Education As If Truth Mattered
- Having, or relating to, Pickwickian syndrome.
- This pattern of EEG and respiratory changes has been observed during both diurnal and nocturnal sleep in Pickwickian patients.1975, Morton F. Reiser, Organic disorders and psychosomatic medicine, volume 4, page 866
- Of or relating to The Pickwick Papers, its storyline, or its characters (chiefly Samuel Pickwick himself).
- Calverley's test of Pickwickian scholarship has been followed by similar tests with which students of the Holmesian chronicles may put their knowledge of their hero's exploits to the proof.1960, George Frederick McCleary, On detective fiction and other things, page 60
Noun capitalized: Pickwickian
Pickwickian (plural Pickwickians)
- A person who has Pickwickian syndrome.
Forms of pickwickian
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more Pickwickian |
| superlative | most Pickwickian |
| alternative form | pickwickian |
| Noun | |
| plural | Pickwickians |
Origin of pickwickian
From Pickwick + -ian, from The Pickwick Papers (1836) by Charles Dickens, in which members of the Pickwick Club explain away unparliamentary language as having been uttered "in the Pickwickian sense".
Words formed from pickwickian
Questions about pickwickian
- What does pickwickian mean?
- Pickwickian means arbitrary or meaningless (of the usage of a word or phrase).
- What is pickwickian the alternative letter-case form of?
- Pickwickian is the alternative letter-case form of Pickwickian.
- What part of speech is pickwickian?
- Pickwickian can be an adjective or a noun.
Words near pickwickian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pickwickian (page history and authors); Pickwickian (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: “pickwickian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pickwickian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.