Victorian

[ vik-tawr-ee-uhn, -tohr- ]

adjective

1. of or relating to Queen Victoria or the period of her reign:

   Victorian poets.

2. having the characteristics usually attributed to the Victorians, especially prudishness and observance of the conventionalities.

   Synonyms: priggish, narrow, prim, smug, conventional, prudish

3. Architecture.
   1. noting or pertaining to the architecture, furnishings, and decoration of English-speaking countries between c1840 and c1900, characterized by rapid changes of style as a consequence of aesthetic and philosophical controversy, technological innovations, and changes of fashion, by the frequent presence of ostentatious ornament, and by an overall trend from classicism at the start to romanticism and eclecticism at the middle of the period and thence to classicism again, with attempts at stylistic innovation occurring from time to time.
   2. noting or pertaining to the massive, elaborate work characteristic especially of the period c1855–80, derived mainly from the Baroque and Gothic styles and characterized by the presence of heavy carved ornament, elaborate moldings, etc., by the use of strong and generally dark colors, by the frequent use of dark varnished woodwork, by the emphasis on geometrical form rather than on textural effects, and frequently by an effect of harshness.

noun

1. a person who lived during the Victorian period.
2. a house in or imitative of the Victorian style.

Victorian

/ vɪkˈtɔːrɪən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Queen Victoria or the period of her reign
2. exhibiting the characteristics popularly attributed to the Victorians, esp prudery, bigotry, or hypocrisy Compare Victorian values
3. denoting, relating to, or having the style of architecture used in Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria, characterized by massive construction and elaborate ornamentation
4. of or relating to Victoria (the state or any of the cities)

noun

1. a person who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria
2. an inhabitant of Victoria (the state or any of the cities)

Victorian

1. A descriptive term for the time when Victoria was queen of England , from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian period in England is known as a time of industrial progress, colonial expansion, and public fastidiousness in morals. The Victorian period in the United States had many of the same characteristics.

Derived Forms

• Vicˈtorianˌism, noun

Other Words From

• post-Vic·tori·an adjective
• pre-Vic·tori·an adjective
• pseudo-Vic·tori·an adjective noun
• un-Vic·tori·an adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Victorian¹

First recorded in 1870–75; Victori(a) + -an

Example Sentences

Little wonder that George MacDonald Fraser, chronicler of Flashman, that greatest of all Victorian antiheroes, loved “Under the Red Robe.”

From Washington Post

Plants invented “steamy but not touchy” long before the Victorian novel — much flowering, perfuming and maybe green yearning, all without direct contact of reproductive organs.

From Science News

Much of the way we understand the Royal Family today, as a public-facing family and in its relationship with the media, was consolidated during the Victorian era, alongside the development of photographic practice and mass printed media.

From Time

Though restrictions are being eased gradually, the Victorian government would have to approve the tournament bringing international players to the country.

From Washington Post

I noticed Victorian homes, Spanish mission–style churches, and the way land and water interlocked.

From Outside Online

The Industrial Revolution and Victorian practically erased the holiday in England.

From The Daily Beast

To him, Churchill “was radical precisely because he was conservative” and “essentially a buccaneering Victorian Whig.”

From The Daily Beast

According to Wynd, “Freddie Mercury once said he wanted to lead a Victorian life surrounded by exquisite clutter.”

From The Daily Beast

A Victorian-style couch now stands in the spot where Mr. Borden was killed while he napped.

From The Daily Beast

Your Victorian lesbians were sexy, vocal, recognizable, and radical too, I say.

From The Daily Beast

It was a room without beauty, merely walls, repapered once every twenty years, and furniture of the mid-Victorian era.

From Project Gutenberg

Now death by the mid-Victorian was considered almost as undesirable an element in society as sex itself.

From Project Gutenberg

But to Bierce's mind, "noble and nude and antique," this mid-Victorian draping and bedecking of "unpleasant truths" was abhorrent.

From Project Gutenberg

Bad puns were evidently common on the stage before the days of Victorian burlesque.

From Project Gutenberg

Before morning the Victorian would be running up the St. Lawrence.

From Project Gutenberg