turtlesque
UK/ˌtɜːtl̩ˈɛsk/US/ˌtɜɹtl̩ˈɛsk/
turtlesque adjective: resembling or characteristic of turtles.
Adjective
turtlesque (comparative more turtlesque, superlative most turtlesque)
- Resembling or characteristic of turtles.
- Their mother had the same features, voice, and colouring, but slimness had developed into the turtlesque figure of a staunch type of British matron in her early fifties, who has no American prototype.1908, Mabel Osgood Wright, The Open Window: Tales of the Months, New York: The Macmillan Company, page 281
- The most offensive was 'that dirty old man, dr remsen, who is always spitting at me,' whilst the other one most in evidence was the big ideal bully, joe brewer,' to whom he always ascribed, when asked, any lesions, bruises, or other disfigurations of his own turtlesque physiognomy.1935, William Seabrook, Asylum, page 228
- Slow
- Unfortunately, it prints text at such a turtlesque speed that for many applications it's not even in the running.1989 November 14, Steve Lewiski, “Toshiba Express Writer 301”, in PC Mag, page 328
- This works on both Win95 and NT, but on NT the pace is positively turtlesque. The same is true when I discard pause and use a linkdll to "user" and use "getTickcount".
Can anyone explain why NT is so much slower in running this script? TIA,1997 June 19, Mark Kaiser, “moving objects- NT vs. Win95”, in bit.listserv.toolb-l (Usenet)
Examples of turtlesque in a sentence
- She had grown a hard shell, too, and she felt she had developed a certain "turtlesque" determination.1955, Elizabeth K. Lawson, “Dean's-eye View”, in Educational Horizons, volume 34, number 2, page 147:
- Even had a little turtlesque smile growing there straight and flat across his weary features.2004, Chris Lynch, The Gravedigger's Cottage, HarperCollins, page 146:
- Moe, of course, is older than coal and remains turtlesque, but he's still around, still working, and never misses the chance to spin favorite tunes for pretty girls who stop by the post office.2004, Ted Simendinger, Jurassic Trout: An Ensemble Comedy, Denver, Colo: Airplane Reader Pub. Co., page 175:
- If the response of a turtlesque church is to pull in its head at the rolling thunder, the greatest opportunity for revival in two thousand years will be missed.2005, Mark Rutland, Resurrection: Receiving and Releasing God's Greatest Miracle, Lake Mary, Fla: Creation House, page 78:
Forms of turtlesque
| comparative | more turtlesque |
|---|---|
| superlative | most turtlesque |
| alternative form | turtle-esque |
Origin of turtlesque
From turtle + -esque. Piecewise doublet of turtleish.
Questions about turtlesque
- What does turtlesque mean?
- Turtlesque means resembling or characteristic of turtles.
- How do you use turtlesque in a sentence?
- She had grown a hard shell, too, and she felt she had developed a certain "turtlesque" determination.
- What part of speech is turtlesque?
- Turtlesque is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce turtlesque?
- Turtlesque is pronounced /ˌtɜːtl̩ˈɛsk/ (UK).
Words near turtlesque in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: turtlesque (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: “turtlesque.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/turtlesque. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.