Timonist
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A sort of bitter misanthrope related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
"Yet was he not … such a Timonist, but hee would familiarly conuerse with his friends. [sic]"
- 1 Of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
"Marston poses as the Timonist malcontent satirist ready to excoriate the world for its follies."
Example
More examples"Yet was he not … such a Timonist, but hee would familiarly conuerse with his friends. [sic]"
Etymology
From Timon + -ist, after the 5th-century-BCE person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes). Used by Robert Greene in his Greene's Mourning Garment (1590). (William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens is usually estimated c. 1607 and would not have influenced Greene; however, some consider the play could be one of Shakespeare's earliest, and could then have been Greene's source.)
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.