Word.ws English Dictionary

Tarzanism

Tarzanism noun: any behaviour reminiscent of the fictional character Tarzan, especially displays of primitive and exaggerated masculinity or power.

Noun

Tarzanism (uncountable)

  1. Any behaviour reminiscent of the fictional character Tarzan, especially displays of primitive and exaggerated masculinity or power.
    • Meanwhile the real nature of Tarzanism, whether some sinister possession or simply the age-long appetite for the monstrous, just now a little out of hand, remains as far from solution as ever.1920 October 27, Punch, London, page 340, column 1
    • COMING ATTRACTIONS.— Doc. Paul B. Dowd in brand-new feats of super-strength! Aerial acrobatics! Tarzanism! Bone-crushing!1930 January 31, The Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser, Qld, page 2, column 5

Examples of Tarzanism in a sentence

  • He does an ingenious job of acting a plain, slow-thinking individualist, but he is often working with an actor like Lancaster who does everything with a glib, showy, Tarzanism.1953 August 29, The Nation, New York, page 178, column 3:
  • How insightful her diagnosis of male tarzanism!2021 June 15, The Canberra Times, page 37:

Origin of Tarzanism

From Tarzan + -ism.

Questions about Tarzanism

What does Tarzanism mean?
Tarzanism means any behaviour reminiscent of the fictional character Tarzan, especially displays of primitive and exaggerated masculinity or power.
How do you use Tarzanism in a sentence?
He does an ingenious job of acting a plain, slow-thinking individualist, but he is often working with an actor like Lancaster who does everything with a glib, showy, Tarzanism.
What part of speech is Tarzanism?
Tarzanism is a noun.

Words near Tarzanism in the dictionary

  1. Tarzaniana
  2. Tarzanians
  3. Tarzanic
  4. Tarzaning
  5. Tarzanish
  6. Tarzanism
  7. Tarzanist
  8. Tarzanists
  9. Tarzans
  10. Tarzany
  11. Tarzhay

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Tarzanism (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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