Augustan
Americanadjective
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of or relating to Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, or to the age AugustanAge in which he flourished, which marked the golden age of Latin literature.
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of or relating to the neoclassic period, especially of 18th-century English literature.
noun
adjective
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characteristic of, denoting, or relating to the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar (63 bc –14 ad ), his period, or the poets, notably Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, writing during his reign
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of, relating to, or characteristic of any literary period noted for refinement and classicism, esp the late 17th century in France (the period of the dramatists Corneille, Racine, and Molière) or the 18th century in England (the period of Swift, Pope, and Johnson, much influenced by Dryden)
noun
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an author in an Augustan Age
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a student of or specialist in Augustan literature
Other Word Forms
- post-Augustan adjective
- pre-Augustan adjective
Etymology
Origin of Augustan
From the Latin word Augustānus, dating back to 1695–1705. See Augustus, -an
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.
Evidence suggests that at some point during the Augustan period, Kush was a client state of the Roman Empire.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
In the 18th century — the so-called Augustan age of English literature — Virgil was, if anything, even more deeply cherished.
From Washington Post • Sep. 12, 2017
British critics in the nineteenth century followed suit, celebrating Shakespeare’s capacious characters and poetic imagination instead of worrying whether his plots fit Aristotelian unities or if his style matched Augustan decorum.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 6, 2015
Mr. Vidal was, at the end of his life, an Augustan figure who believed himself to be the last of a breed, and he was probably right.
From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2012
Ovid, who lived in the Augustan Age, tells his life in detail and so does Apollodorus, in the first or second century A.D.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
