frabjous

American  

[frab-juhs] / ˈfræb dʒəs /

adjective

Informal.

1. wonderful, elegant, superb, or delicious.

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Etymology

Origin of frabjous

1872; coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass; perhaps meant to suggest fabulous or joyous

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Explanation

Frabjous means "wonderful or delightful," and you might use it to describe the feeling of winning the lottery. But then you'd have to deal with taxes, which most people find less than delightful. The word frabjous comes from Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky," included in his novel Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. The word is first used when the hero triumphantly kills the terrifying Jabberwock, and it looks like words such as fabulous, joyous, and possibly fair, so people started using it to mean "extremely good." Carroll coined a bunch of other words in the same poem including galumph, chortle, and burble. How frabjous!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

frabjous

Lewis Carroll of the Bells: “Hark how the bells go dongleding And with a swilvy twankling say, ‘Let all your cares go flarrowing This frabjous Christmas Day!’

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2021

For most politicians, this would be a frabjous day.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 3, 2018

For most politicians, this would be a frabjous day of well-nigh full employment and fatter paychecks.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 3, 2018

Now, on the occasion of Charles Dodgson's sesquicentennial, the matter has been rectified with Martin Gardner's frabjous Annotated Snark.

From Time Magazine Archive

CARROLL, when comes that "frabjous day," We'll "chortle in our joy."

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, October 8, 1892 by Sir F. C. (Francis Cowley) Burnand

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