Meanings
comparative more Rowlingian · superlative most Rowlingian
- Characteristic of J. K. Rowling (born 1965), British author, philanthropist, film producer, and screenwriter.
Broad-stroke storytelling, a critical eye turned towards class differences and tender moments between friends? That's positively Rowlingian!
2012 September 29, Maddie Crum, “'The Casual Vacancy': Harry Potter Fans Will Enjoy JK Rowling's New Book”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 28 Jun 20225 more examples
“Nigidius Potter” sounds like a good Rowlingian name, and Publius Nigidius Potter, the friend of Cicero who died in exile in 45 BC, was indeed a wizard.
2000, The Classical Outlook, volume 78/79, American Classical League, page 94, column 1In any case, having established its Rowlingian street cred, the film then does what Potter’s adaptors never dared, and turns its protagonist from an 11-year-old British boy into a 13-year-old American one, thus combining old English charm and Connecticut Yankee ingenuity like nothing since Arthurian times.
2007 October 5, Chris Knight, “Too much magic for one kid to handle”, in National Post, volume 9, number 288, page PM7, column 2Auntie Muriel taunts Doge about his youthful dedication to Dumbledore, dismissing his affections (“Oh, we all know you worshipped Dumbledore” [DH 154]), and Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth more colorfully condemns Doge’s affection for Albus: “Thought the sun shone out of my brother’s every orifice, he did” (DH 563). This line, with typical Rowlingian ambiguity, hints at an anal attraction while refusing to state it.
2011, Tison Pugh, “Dumbledore’s Queer Ghost: Homosexuality and Its Heterosexual Afterlives in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Novels”, in Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children’s Literature, New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 93As we refer to “Shakespearean” English, perhaps those future English speakers will refer to “Rowlingian” English (after the author of the Harry Potter books).
2011, Michael G. Gaunt, “Perspectives: Old English and Middle English”, in Lightning Literature & Composition: British Medieval: Student’s Guide, 2nd edition, Washougal, Wash.: Hewitt Homeschooling, →ISBN, unit 1, lesson 2 (Anglo-Saxon Riddles), page 56The healing power of tears has never been a characteristic of the phoenix in its long development of reception and it is obviously a modern or even ‘Rowlingian’ invention.
2015, Dagmar Hofmann, “The Phoenix, the Werewolf and the Centaur: The Reception of Mythical Beasts in the Harry Potter Novels and their Film Adapatations”, in Filippo Carlà, Irene Berti, editors, Ancient Magic and the Supernatural in the Modern Visual and Performing Arts, Bloomsbury Academic, published 2016, →ISBN, page 173Synonyms: Rowlingesque
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveCharacteristic of J. K. Rowling (born 1965), British author, philanthropist, film producer, and screenwriter.
Origin
Cite this entry
Rowlingian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rowlingian
“Rowlingian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rowlingian. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Rowlingian,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Rowlingian.
Source: Rowlingian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.