Post #14 My top 5 eponymous adjectives

Technically, any same can be adjectived by adding an -ian, -ic, -esque, etc. suffix, but there are very few names that have made their way into the popular English lexicon as eponymous adjectives.

I like using eponymous adjectives where appropriate, but some are more enjoyable to use than others.

All definitions are from Dictionary.com

    1. Orwellian-of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling the literary work of George Orwell or the totalitarian future described in his antiutopian novel 1984 (1949)

Personal confession time: I have never read 1984. I don't know how I got through high school and college having never read it, but I understand the basic idea just through pop culture. The ever increasing use of surveillance on private citizens by governments today certainly has an Orwellian feel to it.

    2. Quixotic-extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary, impractical, or impracticable, resembling or befitting Don Quixote

Again, I'm embarrassed to say that I have never read the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes whose title  character gives us this adjective. However that has not stopped me from using the adjective to describe many of the life plans I come up with for myself (particularly as it pertains to romantic relationships).

    3. Pavlovian-of, relating to, or characteristic of Pavlov or his work, especially of experiments in which he elicited predictable responses from laboratory animals.

I feel like the basics of the work of the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov on classical conditioning are pretty well known. When you know a person well enough, you know how classically condition him or her so as to elicit certain Pavlovian responses.

    4. Kafkaesque-of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling the literary work of Franz Kafka, marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity

I have, in fact, read Kafka's Metamorphosis, but I feel like that story is not overly Kafkaesque in the traditional sense (as I am guessing that some of his other works are). I don't know if there is a more Kafkaesque place than the Department of Motor Vehicles nor a more Kafkaesque process than requesting records from the government.

    5. Faustian-of, relating to, or characteristic of Faust, sacrificing spiritual values for power, knowledge or material gain.

The character in German legend - popularized in the play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (which, again, I have not read) - trades his soul to the devil in return for being able to have any woman he wants. It may just be my idealistic youth speaking here, but I don't want to ever make a Faustian career move where I sacrifice my happiness or morality for money.


I am not going to force it, but I want to try to find a way to work at least one of these five into an article in the coming weeks.


What is your favorite eponymous adjective not listed above?


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