Pickwickian

[ pik-wik-ee-uhn ]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Mr. Pickwick, central character of The Pickwick Papers.
2. (of the use or interpretation of an expression) intentionally or unintentionally odd or unusual.
3. (of words or ideas) meant or understood in a sense different from the apparent or usual one.

Pickwickian

/ pɪkˈwɪkɪən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling Mr Pickwick in Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers , esp in being naive or benevolent
2. (of the use or meaning of a word, etc) odd or unusual

Other Words From

• Pick·wicki·an·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of Pickwickian¹

1830–40; Pickwick + -ian

Example Sentences

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Pickwickian, Bumbledom, Gradgrind, Podsnappery, Pecksniffian and the Artful Dodger have also escaped from the novels in which they first appeared to designate types of humanity.

From The Guardian

She also gave them two famous New Yorker profiles by Joseph Mitchell: “the delightful, Pickwickian 1942 story ‘Professor Sea Gull,’ and the much longer and much darker, Poe-like 1964 tale ‘Joe Gould’s Secret.’

From Los Angeles Times

His framing device seems initially an excuse for stringing together a parade of entertaining anecdotes: A mysterious Mr. Inbelicate hires someone dubbed Inscriptino to produce a manuscript based on decades of Pickwickian research.

From Washington Post

With a literary flourish, they named the condition Pickwickian syndrome after a character who falls asleep standing up in Charles Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

From Slate

But he had that funny Pickwickian name, and he knew it.

From BBC