Clark Griswold

noun

A person who tries too hard to create the best holiday or vacation experience.

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Meanings

nounClark Griswold (plural Clark Griswolds)

plural Clark Griswolds

  1. A person who tries too hard to create the best holiday or vacation experience.

    you don't need to be the the Clark Griswold of Halloween

    2018, Becky Kiser, Sacred Holidays: Less Chaos, More Jesus, B&H Publishing Group
    2 more examples

    I was usually the the Clark Griswold of our vacations, pulling him off his stacks of grading to take in sun and skies.

    2024, Nina Sharma, The Way You Make Me Feel: Love in Black and Brown, Penguin Publishing Group, page 143

    The task of stringing the lights has always been left to me, the Clark Griswold of the family.

    2026, Randall Linton, This Little Light of Mine: A Father's Memoir on His Daughter's Brief But Deeply Significant Life, FriesenPress, page 195

Origin

From the National Lampoon Vacation movies, in which Chevy Chase's character Clark Griswold is obsessed with planning the perfect vacation for his family and with having the most impressive Christmas decorations in the neighborhood.

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Cite this entry
APA

Clark Griswold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clark%20Griswold

MLA

“Clark Griswold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clark%20Griswold. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Clark Griswold,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Clark%20Griswold.

Source: Clark Griswold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.