Websterian

[ web-steer-ee-uhn ]

adjective

1. pertaining to or characteristic of Daniel Webster, his political theories, or his oratory.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of Noah Webster or his dictionary.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Websterian¹

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; Webster + -ian

Example Sentences

Toombs was a short, thick, heavy-set man of the Websterian type, and one of the South's most picturesque orators.

From Project Gutenberg

It recalls the tragedies before 1642, with their heroic love after the style of Beaumont and Fletcher, their horrors and incest following the Websterian school, and their emulation of famous passages in Shakespeare.

From Project Gutenberg

It essentially becomes background music to a series of Websterian verbal highlights.

From The Guardian

The title skews a speech from the Duchess of Malfi, and like her magnificent Websterian counterpart, Adès's heroine, at her low point, asserts: "I am Duchess still."

From The Guardian

The Websterian ideal of language as a careful garden of hardy perennials and occasional exotics, cultivated by a corps of devoted lexicographers, is consistently challenged by a weedy invasion of the vulgate.

From Time Magazine Archive