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😴 Obesity sleep disorder 😂 Odd or funny
Pickwickian

Pickwickian

1 9.9
Funny in a gentle, slightly odd way like Dickens's Pickwick Papers
  • adjective
  • /ˌpɪkˈwɪk.i.ən/
  • Literature
: pickwickiano
  • He told a Pickwickian story full of odd characters and gentle humor.

Examples

  • The play had a Pickwickian charm that delighted the audience.

  • His Pickwickian humor always lightens the mood.

  • Her Pickwickian remarks always brought laughter to the classroom.

  • The Pickwickian style of writing is quite distinctive.

  • Her Pickwickian remarks always brought laughter to the classroom.

  • He told a Pickwickian story filled with whimsical characters and gentle humor.

  • The play had a Pickwickian charm that made everyone smile.

Synonyms

wry
vsPickwickian
18 7.5

Showing dry, slightly mocking humor and not taking things seriously

is more eccentric and oddly playful rather than dryly mocking
Gilbertian
vsPickwickian
  • Literature
1 9.9

Having a comic, witty style with eccentric characters and silly twists

is gentler showing warm oddity rather than sharp satirical wit

How Humorous

hilarious
  • Informal
256 1.5
Pickwickian
  • Literature
1 9.9
funny
∞ 1.0
amusing
174 1.0

Surface Forms

Pickwickian positive

Morphology

Pickwickian = Pickwick (semi-transparent) = Pickwick + ian

The adjective clearly means 'relating to Pickwick', but deriving the nuance 'humorous or eccentric' requires knowledge of the literary character, so it is only partly transparent to average learners.

Etymology

Pickwickian comes from Charles Dickens's book The Pickwick Papers, where Mr. Pickwick and his friends act in a gentle, odd, and very 'funny' way, so to call something Pickwickian is to say it is unusually humorous or charmingly eccentric.