Shakespearean

American  

[shayk-speer-ee-uhn] / ʃeɪkˈspɪər i ən /

Or Shakespearian

adjective

1. of, relating to, or suggestive of Shakespeare or his works.

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noun

1. a Shakespearean scholar; a specialist in the study of the works of Shakespeare.

Shakespearean British  

/ ʃeɪkˈspɪərɪən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Shakespeare or his works

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noun

1. a student of or specialist in Shakespeare's works

Other Word Forms

• Shakespeareanism
  noun
• Shakespearianism
  noun
• half-Shakespearean
  adjective
• non-Shakespearean
  adjective
• non-Shakespearian
  adjective
• post-Shakespearean
  adjective
• post-Shakespearian
  adjective
• pre-Shakespearean
  adjective
• pre-Shakespearian
  adjective
• pseudo-Shakespearean
  adjective
• pseudo-Shakespearian
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Shakespearean

First recorded in 1810–20; Shakespeare + -an

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Shakespearean

There will be snacks, drinks, live music, kid crafts, a bouncy house, a handful of actors in Shakespearean garb and scads of neighbors being neighborly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Montana Levi Blanco’s imposing Elizabethan costumes referred to the opera’s Shakespearean source, and the ruin of the Macbeths was all the more noticeable when their grand ceremonial garments were stripped away.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Macmillan said he wanted to create something "on the scale of a Shakespearean tragedy and a Shakespearean history".

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Start plotting your Roth conversions in a manner akin to a Shakespearean conspiracist.

From MarketWatch ● May 21, 2026

The pages that comprise it are printed with Shakespearean sonnets.

From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern