Elizabethan
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the reign of Elizabeth I, queen of England, or to her times.
Elizabethan diplomacy; Elizabethan music.
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noting or pertaining to an English Renaissance style of architecture of the reign of Elizabeth I characterized by fantastic sculptured or molded ornament of German or Flemish origin, symmetrical layouts, and an emphasis on domestic architecture.
noun
adjective
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of, characteristic of, or relating to England or its culture in the age of Elizabeth I or to the United Kingdom or its culture in the age of Elizabeth II
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of, relating to, or designating a style of architecture used in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, characterized by moulded and sculptured ornament based on German and Flemish models
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of Elizabethan
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.
Christine Cover Ferro‘s costumes situate the jockeying courtiers in a vintage 20th century underworld. Projection designer Nick Santiago fleshes out Angela Balogh Calin‘s stripped down scenic design, which combines Elizabethan simplicity with modern rough edges.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2026
Suetonius recorded that Julius Caesar was “somewhat overnice in the care of his person,” and Elizabethan courtiers sported particolored slashed sleeves, but the dandy is a modern, urban phenomenon.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026
"I made bread using a Tudor recipe, I planted my own Elizabethan medicinal garden and I went on a course to find out how to turn plants into medicines."
From BBC • Jan. 1, 2026
In the converted barn's main room, Elizabethan ballads drifted through smoke-thick air as someone scattered chrysanthemum petals across a sheepskin rug.
From Salon • Apr. 19, 2025
He would have said the building was Elizabethan.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
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.
