adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Pertaining to, or in the style of the dramatist and librettist W. S. Gilbert; ludicrously comic

   "Whatever the pressures that have invoked the Minister's diktat, the outcome is Gilbertian."

Adjective

1. 1
   wildly comic and improbable as in Gilbert and Sullivan operas wordnet
2. 2
   of or pertaining to or characteristic of the style of William S. Gilbert wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

humorous

Example

More examples

"Whatever the pressures that have invoked the Minister's diktat, the outcome is Gilbertian."

Etymology

From Gilbert + -ian.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.