havishamesque
/ˌhævɪʃəmˈɛsk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
33
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Unlike most historic sites, which tend to ossify into Havishamesque stillness, Chesterwood, the turn-of-the-century home of popular academic sculptor Daniel Chester French, welcomes the fresh breezes of life."
- "Iris went away to boil water or something, and Claire had time to investigate the shabby finery of the room. It was sad if you looked at it one way, almost Havishamesque."
- "In vitrines throughout the house are several of the couple's collections—Dick [Cavett]'s Native American artifacts, Carrie [Nye]'s seashells, and one Havishamesque glass-topped table preserving a robin's nest with eggs, her ballet teacher's toe shoes, her grandmother's silk wedding slippers, and a copy of [Rudyard] Kipling's Recessional that belonged to Tennessee Williams's mother and was inscribed by him to Carrie."
- "Her husband died three years into their nuptials and she has sat ever since, sour and Havishamesque, waiting on that porch. Waiting for what I do not know: for his return from the great beyond, I suppose, or perhaps for her own demise, and their ensuing reunion."
- "When she told me she hadn't seen it [the film Grey Gardens (1975)], I launched into an enthusiastic gush about this legendary seventies Maysles brothers documentary about a mother and daughter who lived in Havisham-esque decay in East Hampton."
- "On some level Chris felt sorry for abandoning Arthur; however, in Chris's mind, that still didn't justify the dramatics of it all—the maudlin, Havishamesque world he'd been dragged into because of a single mistake."
Etymology
From Havisham + -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), after the character Miss Havisham from the novel Great Expectations (1860–1861) by the English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870), a wealthy spinster once jilted at the altar, who lives in a ruined mansion and always wears her wedding dress.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌhævɪʃəmˈɛsk/
- British English: /ˌhævɪʃəmˈɛsk/