Smollett

American

[smol-it] / ˈsmɒl ɪt /

noun

Tobias George, 1721–71, English novelist.

Smollett British

/ ˈsmɒlɪt /

noun

Tobias George. 1721–71, Scottish novelist, whose picaresque satires include Roderick Random (1748), Peregrine Pickle (1751), and Humphry Clinker (1771)

"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

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.

There was no merrier illustration of the varieties of human experience than this runaway French hit, which was, like “Don Quixote,” translated into English by Smollett in 1748.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

The charges were later dropped, and Smollett has always maintained it was not a hoax.

From BBC • May 23, 2025

ABC News reports, external that Don't Go is the name of a music video Smollett was planning to shoot - which is why he paid the brothers to get him in shape.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024

Smollett is released after serving just six days of his sentence after his lawyers immediately launched an appeal.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2024

In Smollett, the roughness frequently passes over into brutality; while Marryat, though he depicts brutality, never seems to share it.

From The Age of Tennyson by Walker, Hugh

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