Victorian

[vik-tawr-ee-uhn, -tohr-]

adjective

1. of or relating to Queen Victoria or the period of her reign.

   Victorian poets.

2. having the characteristics usually attributed to the Victorians, especially prudishness and observance of the conventionalities.

   Synonyms: narrow, prim, smug, priggish, conventional, prudish

3. Architecture.

   1. noting or pertaining to the architecture, furnishings, and decoration of English-speaking countries between c1840 and c1900, characterized by rapid changes of style as a consequence of aesthetic and philosophical controversy, technological innovations, and changes of fashion, by the frequent presence of ostentatious ornament, and by an overall trend from classicism at the start to romanticism and eclecticism at the middle of the period and thence to classicism again, with attempts at stylistic innovation occurring from time to time.

   2. noting or pertaining to the massive, elaborate work characteristic especially of the period c1855–80, derived mainly from the Baroque and Gothic styles and characterized by the presence of heavy carved ornament, elaborate moldings, etc., by the use of strong and generally dark colors, by the frequent use of dark varnished woodwork, by the emphasis on geometrical form rather than on textural effects, and frequently by an effect of harshness.

noun

1. a person who lived during the Victorian period.

2. a house in or imitative of the Victorian style.

Victorian

/ vɪkˈtɔːrɪən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Queen Victoria or the period of her reign

2. exhibiting the characteristics popularly attributed to the Victorians, esp prudery, bigotry, or hypocrisy Compare Victorian values

3. denoting, relating to, or having the style of architecture used in Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria, characterized by massive construction and elaborate ornamentation

4. of or relating to Victoria (the state or any of the cities)

noun

1. a person who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria

2. an inhabitant of Victoria (the state or any of the cities)

Victorian

1. A descriptive term for the time when Victoria was queen of England, from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian period in England is known as a time of industrial progress, colonial expansion, and public fastidiousness in morals. The Victorian period in the United States had many of the same characteristics.

Other Word Forms

• post-Victorian adjective
• pre-Victorian adjective
• pseudo-Victorian adjective
• un-Victorian adjective
• Victorianism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Victorian¹

First recorded in 1870–75; Victori(a) + -an

Example Sentences

Renovation work on the museum, which is housed in a grand Victorian dock office building, started in 2021 as part of a £27.5m project to highlight the city's maritime heritage.

Read more on BBC

Victorian audiences were repelled by Henrik Ibsen’s fatally attractive newlywed who appears to have it all — the fancy house, the doting husband — only to be violently bored.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“That’s when we learned there were places like the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.”

Read more on MarketWatch

London's Victorian concert venue has been utterly transformed, complete with six-tonne Japanese temple roof suspended above the ring.

Read more on BBC

But London’s mix of Medieval alleyways, Victorian terraces and modern roundabouts are set to pose a new challenge.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal