Nabokovian

American  

[nab-uh-koh-vee-uhn] / ˌnæb əˈkoʊ vi ən /

adjective

1. of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling the literary style of Vladimir Nabokov.

   a sly, Nabokovian sense of the absurd.

---

Etymology

Origin of Nabokovian

First recorded in 1955–60; Nabokov + -ian

Example Sentences

Mr. Lanchester is a magnetic writer who combines the skills of a social realist with this penchant for Nabokovian black humor and narrative trickery.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026

Occasionally, too, sentences attain a fleeting, Nabokovian beauty: “We rounded a bend in the road and a cloud of pale blue butterflies appeared before us, blown in perhaps from another part of the world.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 22, 2021

As Weinman notes, throughout Nabokov’s career, he adhered to “the single-minded Nabokovian belief that art supersedes influence, and so influence must be brushed off.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 7, 2018

There were no metaphors, no Nabokovian special effects, no authorial introspection.

From New York Times • Nov. 23, 2016

We do get a self-portrait of the young Vladimir unvarnished by Nabokovian irony.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 16, 2015