Pooterish

British

/ ˈpuːtərɪʃ /

adjective

characteristic of or resembling the fictional character Pooter, esp in being bourgeois, genteel, or self-important

"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

Etymology

Origin of Pooterish

C20: from Charles Pooter, the hero of Diary of a Nobody (1892), by George and Weedon Grossmith

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.

If Transcription were a le Carré novel, the main character would be the fake Gestapo agent, Godfrey Toby, a reputed mastermind who cuts a disappointingly “unassuming, Pooterish figure” in the young Juliet’s eyes.

From Slate • Sep. 25, 2018

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