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Glite Dictionary
🎭 Like Ben Jonson 🧑‍🎓 A Jonson admirer
Jonsonian

Jonsonian

9.9
Like the plays of Ben Jonson, with sharp satirical wit
  • adjective
  • /dʒɒnˈzoʊniən/
  • Literature
: jonsoniano
  • The satirical tone of the play was distinctly Jonsonian in style.

Examples

  • Critics praised the Jonsonian wit and structure of the new production.

  • Her essay explored the Jonsonian elements present in seventeenth-century English drama.

  • The play had a distinctly Jonsonian style.

  • Critics described her work as Jonsonian in nature.

  • The satirical tone of the play was distinctly Jonsonian in style.

  • Her essay explored the Jonsonian elements present in seventeenth-century English drama.

  • Critics praised the Jonsonian wit and structure of the new production.

Surface Forms

Jonsonian positive

Morphology

Jonsonian = Jonson (transparent) = Jonson + ian

Formed by the productive adjectival/noun-forming suffix '-ian' added to the surname 'Jonson', meaning 'relating to or characteristic of Ben Jonson'.

Etymology

Jonsonian comes from the name of the English playwright Ben Jonson and the ending -ian, which means 'related to' or 'belonging to', just like Shakespearean. So Jonsonian describes something 'in the style of Jonson'.