Timonean
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
"Solitude, on the contrary, not only deprives us of both the past and the future, but always inclines the present hour to joyless melancholy, which sooner or later ends in something intractable, Timonean, (pardon the word) or perhaps more fatal."
- 2 Pertaining or related to Timon of Phlius, his life, works, style, or ideas.
"Since only a small percentage of Timon's oeuvre has survived and much of Callimachus' work is equally fragmentary there are no direct quotes or precise allusions, but it is possible to discern some features of Callimachus' work that seem remarkably Timonean."
Example
More examples"Solitude, on the contrary, not only deprives us of both the past and the future, but always inclines the present hour to joyless melancholy, which sooner or later ends in something intractable, Timonean, (pardon the word) or perhaps more fatal."
Etymology
From Timon + -ean, after the 5th-century-BCE person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes), possibly by way of William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens (c. 1607). Used by John Toland in a letter (c. 1710–1722), apparently as a rare word or neologism, and by Thomas Amory in The Life of John Buncle (volume II; 1766), as a regular word.
From Timon + -ean, after a 3rd-century-BCE disciple of Pyrrho, Skeptic philosopher and satirist Timon of Phlius (c. 320 – c. 230 BC).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.