Ionesco

American

[yuh-nes-koh, ee-uh-] / jəˈnɛs koʊ, i ə- /

noun

Eugène 1912–94, French playwright, born in Romania.

Ionesco British

/ jɔnɛsko, ˌiːəˈnɛskəʊ /

noun

Eugène (øʒɛn). 1912–94, French dramatist, born in Romania; a leading exponent of the theatre of the absurd. His plays include The Bald Prima Donna (1950) and Rhinoceros (1960)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The characters are like those in a deck of wild cards designed by Salvador Dalí, but somehow the game Ionesco prepares never takes off here.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026

Theatre of the Absurd pioneer Ionesco had called it an anti-Nazi play.

From Reuters • Nov. 24, 2021

He also tried his hand at theater directing, putting on a well-received program of Beckett and Ionesco plays in Los Angeles in 1961.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2021

Martin, meanwhile, channels Beckett or Ionesco as he lectures on “space and time. Spacetime.”

From New York Times • Oct. 20, 2020

Madame Ionesco sat back and folded her arms, and her eyes rolled up in her head until they were aimed at the ceiling.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023