Butlerian

B3U1T1L1E1R1I1A1N1

adjective

Of or relating to Samuel Butler (1835–1902), iconoclastic Victorian author.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

adjectiveButlerian (comparative more Butlerian, superlative most Butlerian)

comparative more Butlerian · superlative most Butlerian

  1. Of or relating to Samuel Butler (1835–1902), iconoclastic Victorian author.
  2. Of or relating to Judith Butler (born 1956), American philosopher focused on feminism, queer theory, and ethics.

    As we have explained, Butlerian theory affords us a way of understanding gendered, heterosexual relations that illuminates and helps to make sense of the (non-)responses of our participants.

    2015, Tracy Morison, Catriona Macleod, Men's Pathways to Parenthood: Silence and Heterosexual Gendered Norms, page 47
    2 more examples

    As [Mae] West aptly demonstrates, theatrical performance, performance in everyday life, and Butlerian performativity suggest how both actresses and prostitutes employ a variety of strategies to intervene in their discursive representations.

    2005, Kirsten Pullen, Actresses and Whores: On Stage and in Society, page 21

    In Butt, gender is aesthetically transcended: instead of a Butlerian gender performance that destabilizes masculinity through parody, or a celebration of the destruction of the masculine ego-ideal, which Bersani foregrounds, we find a non-essentialist transformation of the materiality of the male body.

    2022, Peter Rehberg, Hipster Porn: Queer Masculinities and Affective Sexualities in the Fanzine Butt, page 91
nounButlerian (plural Butlerians)

plural Butlerians

  1. An advocate of a form of Lamarckism put forward by Samuel Butler and Ewald Hering

Origin

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Cite this entry
APA

Butlerian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Butlerian

MLA

“Butlerian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Butlerian. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Butlerian,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Butlerian.

Source: Butlerian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.