What does "ibsenism" mean?

The dramatic practice or purpose characteristic of the writings of Henrik Ibsen, whose best-known plays deal with conventional hypocrisies, the story in each play thus developing a definite moral problem.

Ibsenism

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Definitions

Proper Noun

1
The dramatic practice or purpose characteristic of the writings of Henrik Ibsen, whose best-known plays deal with conventional hypocrisies, the story in each play thus developing a definite moral problem.
"Thus reasoned Mrs. Failing, in the facile vein of Ibsenism. She imagined herself to be a cold-eyed Scandinavian heroine."

Example

More examples

"Thus reasoned Mrs. Failing, in the facile vein of Ibsenism. She imagined herself to be a cold-eyed Scandinavian heroine."

Etymology

From Ibsen + -ism.

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