Victorian

comparative more Victorian · superlative most Victorian

1. Of or relating to the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, or that period.

   From the platforms at Wapping or Rotherhithe you can see the tunnel fleetingly illuminated as the trains approach; it looks so incredibly Victorian that you expect to see Jack the Ripper loitering between the arches.

   2012, Andrew Martin, “Deeper”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 93

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   One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.

   2014 June 14, “It’s a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Jun 2014

2. Of or relating to the culture or social conditions of that period.
   1. In a situation of poverty and social injustice; Dickensian.

      I'm not proposing a return to Victorian working conditions, or anything like that, but there are two areas where things need changing.

      2022 January 12, Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in Rail, number 948, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25

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      In some cases, teachers reported being aware of pupils living in "Victorian conditions", of youngsters coming to school with no socks or coat and of more families depending on food banks.

      2015 April 5, Press Association, “Children living in Victorian conditions, say teachers”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2021

      While masturbation was never favored in Judeo-Christian tradition, Victorian morality, along with the Great Awakening and other religious revivals in America, created a perfect storm for people to really get obsessed with it.

      2023 January 18, Matt Soniak, “When Corn Flakes Were Part of an Anti-Masturbation Crusade”, in Mental Floss, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2025

   2. architectureOf the style of architecture or furnishings of that period.

      Unhappily, however, all that remains of Cherhill's claim to an old manor house is a rather cold ungabled building, blue-slated in hard ruled lines, and a porch which might have been transplanted from a late Victorian house.

      1941, J[ames] H[erbert] Blackford, The Manor and Village of Cherhill, a Wiltshire Village from Early Times to the Present Day, Frome, Somerset; London: […] Butler & Tanner, →OCLC, page 188

3. figurativelyOf or displaying the (supposed) ideals or standards of morality of that period; conservative; also, old-fashioned, out-of-date.

   “I’m asking you your intentions, damn it!” said Wimsey, “and if that’s not Victorian enough, I don’t know what is.”

   1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison

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   The Labor Church did not last; but the reaction did; and the last I heard of its founder was that he was helping the movement against Victorian prudery in a very practical way as a Nudist photographer, […]

   1948, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Farfetched Fables. Preface.”, in Buoyant Billions; Farfetched Fables; Shakes versus Shav, London: Constable, published 1950, →OCLC, page 72

   Even the legalization and vastly increased approval of same-sex marriage has a Victorian aspect. The early same-sex marriage advocates Andrew Sullivan and Jonathan Rauch argued that marriage would domesticate homosexuals.

   2015 July 28, Michael Barone, “Is America Entering a New Victorian Era?”, in National Review, New York, N.Y.: National Review, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2020

plural Victorians

1. A person born in or living in the Victorian period, or exhibiting characteristics of that period.

   What a perfect Victorian you are, Charles. I should like to keep you in a glass case.

   1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison

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   It was not until the late 1800s when older members of New York society, aghast at the invasion of vulgar "new money," devised a daunting system of social rules – not to mention silverware – meant to repel anyone of humble origins who dared to sit down at one of their twelve-course dinners. It was the Victorians who gave us such useful implements as the strawberry knife.

   2008 May 29 – June 4, Aimee Levitt, “St. Louis’ etiquette masters tell us how to mind our manners”, in Riverfront Times, St. Louis, Mo.: Euclid Media Group, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Jun 2022, page 20

   The arrival of the railway turned this isolated fishing village into a popular seaside destination for Victorians who came to breathe fresh sea air, clear their lungs or take the waters.

   2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: The Nation’s Finest Stations: Grange-over-Sands”, in Rail, number 948, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 27

2. An item of furniture from that period.
3. USarchitectureA house built in the Victorian architectural style.

   Polk caustically called the Western Addition, site of many of the newest Victorians, “an architectural nightmare conceived in a reign of terror and produced by artistic anarchists.”

   2021 March 19, Gary Kamiya, “One of San Francisco’s strangest buildings was a mash-up masterpiece”, in San Francisco Chronicle, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2026

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   The commercial resurgence brought about by the area's changing tastes is reflected in midtown's conglomeration of refurbished Victorians, apartments, specialty shops, offices, corner groceries, restaurants, single-family homes, and bed and breakfast inns.

   1987, Faren Maree Bachelis, “Downtown Sacramento”, in The Pelican Guide to Sacramento and the Gold Country (A Firebird Press Book), Gretna, New Orleans, La.: Pelican Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 86

1. not comparableOf, from or relating to the state of Victoria, Australia.

   Up to 26 properties are believed lost in Victorian bushfires.

plural Victorians

1. A native or inhabitant of the state of Victoria, Australia.

1. Canadanot comparableOf, from or relating to the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada.

plural Victorians

1. CanadaA native or inhabitant of the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada.

1. A surname.

   Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian competed for Team USA in 2014 before changing her affiliation before these Games.

   2018 February 11, Kelyn Soong, “Jamaican bobsledder says it’s important kids ‘see someone that looks like them’ at Olympics”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2018

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   When Lee Victorian was looking for an upscale car to complement his wife’s BMW last year, he was leaning toward an Audi A6 — a sedan whose acceleration, refinement and dazzling array of advanced technologies, like automatic braking and radar-based cruise control, he found alluring.

   2018 February 15, Neal E. Boudette, “More Luxury Buyers Ditch the Imports and Pick Up a Truck”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2018

   Michelle Victorian, a property manager at Chesapeake Apartments, said the landlord relies on tenants to report problems and that repairs are made promptly.

   2022 April 21, Liam Dillon, “Tenants complain about mold and broken pipes at South L.A. apartments, even after city intervention”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2022

1. A male given name from Latin, of rare usage.

   Japheth’s wife was sitting in his favorite chair by the gently crackling fireplace, their son Victorian asleep in her arms as his brother dozed in a tight ball on the nearby divan.

   2010 November 22, Gloria H. Giroux, chapter 11, in Firesoul (The Chay Trilogy; 3), Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN

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   She told herself that Hubert, Lord Lashmar, would never make old bones; but she feared that he might live long enough to marry and leave some sickly son who should blight the prospects of her boy, Victorian, the very embodiment of physical power and fresh unblemished youth.

   1886, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “‘Oh, Marked from Birth, and Nurtured for the Skies’”, in One Thing Needful […], volume I, London: John and Robert Maxwell […], →OCLC, page 8

   MEYER-KURTZ.—On Nov. 1, at the home of Mrs. G. A. Kurtz, Wauwatosa, Wis., Mr. Victorian Melville Meyer, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Meyer of 11 West 81st St., to Miss Mary Louise Kurtz of Wauwatosa, Wis.

   1919 November 9, “Marriage Announcement”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC