Dictionary

Gatsbyesque en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio
• /ˈɡætsbɪˌɛsk/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌɡætsbɪˈɛsk/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Gatsby + -esque (suffix meaning ‘resembling’ forming adjectives), from the surname of Jay Gatsby, the titular character of the novel The Great Gatsby (1925) by the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940).

Meanings

1. Suggestive of Jay Gatsby, the titular character of the novel The Great Gatsby (1925): enigmatic; extravagant; nouveau riche, etc.
   • And meanwhile there was in him [Carter Burden] a theatrical hunger; the Gatsbyesque demand: "I was very conscious of stars." 1970 January 19, Julie Baumgold, “Carterandamanda: Learning the New York Lesson”, in Clay S[chuette] Felker, editor, New York, volume 3, number 3, New York, N.Y.: New York Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27, column 3:
   • A perpetual bachelor, his named popped up with some frequency in the society pages of the New York papers. Effortlessly, it seemed, Peter Gordon Mackenzie had propelled himself from a jute trader on a gloomy island in the Outer Hebrides to a life of Gatsbyesque splendor at the height of the Gilded Age. 2021, Amanda Frost, “Citizen Suffragist”, in You are Not American: Citizenship Stripping from Dred Scott to the Dreamers, Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, →ISBN, page 80:
   • There was a Gatsbyesque quality to this relatively poor Midwestern boy [George Frost Kennan] who recreated himself as an aristocratic, European-oriented, conservative member of America's leadership class yet never lost a sense of belonging. 1995, Tom Engelhardt, “X Marks the Spot”, in The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN, part II (Containments 1945–1962), page 92:
   • During the first half of the century, Princeton and Cornell joined forces every third and fourth years for home-and-away dual meets with the two English schools [Oxford University and Cambridge University]. It was a sort of Gatsbyesque ideal, featuring a long trip on a luxury liner, and a classic mile matchup between Jack Lovelock of Cambridge and Bill Bonthron '34 even produced a world mile record by the former. 1980 May 19, Phil Ponebshek, “Battle for Berths to Britain”, in Charles L. Creesy, editor, Princeton Alumni Weekly, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 18, column 1:

Forms

Synonyms

Gatsbyish · Gatsbyan

Translations (1)

fi Gatsbyn kaltainen (suggestive of Jay Gatsby — see also enigmatic, extravagant, nouveau riche)

wikipedia: Daisy Buchanan · wikipedia: Jay Gatsby · wikipedia: The Great Gatsby · wikipedia: F. Scott Fitzgerald · wikipedia: Florence Eldridge