Dictionary

Johnsonian en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /d͡ʒɒnˈsəʊnɪ.ən/ (UK)

Etymology

From Johnson + -ian.

Meanings

1. Of or pertaining to the English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), or characteristic of his style.
   • With my idea of the rector derived from a picture in the dining-parlour, stiff and stately […]—it was strange to read these letters. They were full of eager, passionate ardour; short homely sentences, right fresh from the heart (very different from the grand Latinised, Johnsonian style of the printed sermon preached before some judge at assize time). 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 5, in Cranford:
   • Literary Bengali of prose, during the greater part of the 19th century, was thus a doubly artificial language ; and, with its forms belonging to Middle Bengali, and its vocabulary highly Sanskritised, it could only be compared to a ‘ Modern English ’ with a Chaucerian grammar and a super-Johnsonian vocabulary, if such a thing could be conceived. 1926, Suniti Kumar Chatterji, The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, page 134:
2. (US) Of or pertaining to Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973), American politician and president of the United States from 1963 to 1969.
3. (UK) Of or pertaining to Boris Johnson (born 1964), English politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022.
   • To stop no-deal, MPs must adopt some Johnsonian ruthlessness and be ready to bring down the prime minister and put someone else, probably Jeremy Corbyn, in his place. 2019 August 29, “The Guardian view on Johnson v parliament: an unelective dictatorship”, in The Guardian:

Forms

Synonyms

Borisian (of or pertaining to Boris Johnson)

Johnsonian en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /d͡ʒɒnˈsəʊnɪ.ən/ (UK)

Etymology

From Johnson + -ian.

Meanings

1. An enthusiast of the works of Samuel Johnson.
2. A supporter of Boris Johnson.

Forms