Word.ws English Dictionary

Timonean

Timonean adjective: of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.

Adjective (1)

Timonean (comparative more Timonean, superlative most Timonean)

  1. Of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
    • Solitude, on the contrary, not only deprives us of both the past and the future, but always inclines the present hour to joyless melancholy, which sooner or later ends in something intractable, Timonean, (pardon the word) or perhaps more fatal.~1710-1722, John Toland, undated letter
    • Such was the account Mr. Hobart gave me of himself, (which made me admire him much, as he was but fifty then) and to convince me his temper had nothing Timonean or unsocial in it from his solitary life, he requested I would dine with him.1766, Thomas Amory, The Life of John Buncle, Vol. II
    Synonyms:
    Timonian, Timonist

Adjective (2)

Timonean (comparative more Timonean, superlative most Timonean)

  1. Pertaining or related to Timon of Phlius, his life, works, style, or ideas.
    • Since only a small percentage of Timon's oeuvre has survived and much of Callimachus' work is equally fragmentary there are no direct quotes or precise allusions, but it is possible to discern some features of Callimachus' work that seem remarkably Timonean.2009, Dee L. Clayman, Timon of Phlius
    Synonyms:
    Timonian

Synonyms of Timonean

Forms of Timonean

comparativemore Timonean
superlativemost Timonean

Origin of Timonean

From Timon + -ean, after the 5th-century-BCE person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes), possibly by way of William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens (c. 1607). Used by John Toland in a letter (c. 1710–1722), apparently as a rare word or neologism, and by Thomas Amory in The Life of John Buncle (volume II; 1766), as a regular word.

From Timon + -ean, after a 3rd-century-BCE disciple of Pyrrho, Skeptic philosopher and satirist Timon of Phlius (c. 320 – c. 230 BC).

Questions about Timonean

What does Timonean mean?
Timonean means of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
What part of speech is Timonean?
Timonean is an adjective.

Words near Timonean in the dictionary

  1. timoglobulin
  2. Timok
  3. Timoleague
  4. timolol
  5. Timon
  6. Timonean
  7. timoneer
  8. timoneers
  9. Timonian
  10. Timonians
  11. Timonise

Source and license

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