Word.ws English Dictionary

Richardsonian

Richardsonian adjective: of or relating to Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), American architect, or the Romanesque style that he popularised.

Adjective

Richardsonian (comparative more Richardsonian, superlative most Richardsonian)

  1. Of or relating to Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), American architect, or the Romanesque style that he popularised.
    • A. O. Watson of Austin and Eugene T. Heiner of Houston collaborated to produce a very credible Richardsonian court house for DeWitt County in Cuero (1894 - 1896; Fig. 2.06), perhaps modeled on Richardson's Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.1993, Jay C. Henry, Architecture in Texas: 1895-1945
    • The Richardsonian model in nearby Pittsburgh is reflected in the building's surface texture, the 188-foot square tower, arcaded windows, arched entryways, ans stone foliage carvings.2001, Oliver P. Williams, County Courthouses of Pennsylvania: A Guide, page 95
  2. Of or relating to Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), English writer known for his epistolary novels.
    • In fact, Fielding's inability to understand Richardson is mainly the result of his inability to understand Richardsonian complexity of characterization.1967, Philip Stevick, Theory of the Novel, page 382
    • Sexually frank and verbally inventive, Cleland's text constitutes an intriguing response to the dual claims of Richardsonian and Fieldingesque fiction.2006, Brean Hammond, Shaun Regan, Making the Novel: Fiction and Society in Britain, 1660-1789

Examples of Richardsonian in a sentence

  • Most Richardsonian buildings in Los Angeles have disappeared.2009, Robert Winter, An Arch Guidebook to Los Angeles, page 16:
  • La Religieuse has often been called a 'Richardsonian' novel.2011, James Fowler, New Essays on Diderot, page 6:

Forms of Richardsonian

comparativemore Richardsonian
superlativemost Richardsonian

Origin of Richardsonian

From Richardson + -ian.

Words that rhyme with Richardsonian

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Richardsonian

What does Richardsonian mean?
Richardsonian means of or relating to Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886), American architect, or the Romanesque style that he popularised.
How do you use Richardsonian in a sentence?
Most Richardsonian buildings in Los Angeles have disappeared.
What part of speech is Richardsonian?
Richardsonian is an adjective.

Words near Richardsonian in the dictionary

  1. Richardson's jaeger
  2. Richardson's owl
  3. Richardson's owls
  4. Richardson's theorem
  5. Richardson's vole
  6. Richardsonian
  7. Richardsons
  8. Richarson
  9. Richarsons
  10. Richborough
  11. Richbourg

Source and license

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