agelast
/ˈæd͡ʒəˌlæst/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "As a real agelast in a comedy, he is beaten. The beating of an agelast is the most important point of the comedy."
- "Declaring with Doumergue that "Rabelais and Calvin (and Olivétan) were the creators of French literary prose,"²⁵ Bakhtin adds "Even the agelast Calvin wrote a pamphlet about relics with a certain comic overtone."²⁶ The single, and unusual word "agelast" summarizes the popular view of John Calvin: a person who does not laugh or smile; someone who cannot enjoy life or the fact that others might be happy."
- "For Kundera, agelasts represent the opposite of the spirit of the novel; the novel is born from the sense of humor and not from theoretical thinking."
- "Agelasts have a very clear idea that they have patent regarding both the truth and the mission and are so bloody solemn that they just cannot accept other views."
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀγέλαστος (agélastos, “not laughing”), from γελάω (geláō, “to laugh”). Attributed to a French coinage by François Rabelais (ca.1483–1494—1553).