Meanings
plural silver fork novels · alternative silver-fork novel
- A 19th-century genre of English literature that depicted the lives of the upper class and the aristocracy.
In addition, the chapter also explores the influence of the London Season on the content and form of the silver fork novel. One common critique of the silver fork novel was that the genre was formulaic and, thus, easily produced by any hack writer who might put pen to paper.
2015, Cheryl A. Wilson, Fashioning the Silver Fork Novel, Routledge, →ISBN, page 22Synonyms: fashionable novel
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 19th-century genre of English literature that depicted the lives of the upper class and the aristocracy.
Origin
Coined by English essayist and writer William Hazlitt in 1827.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
silver fork novel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/silver%20fork%20novel
“silver fork novel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/silver%20fork%20novel. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “silver fork novel,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/silver%20fork%20novel.
Source: silver fork novel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.