Voltairean

English

Alternative forms

• Voltairian

Etymology

Voltaire +‎ -an

Adjective

Voltairean (comparative more Voltairean, superlative most Voltairean)

1. (philosophy) Of or pertaining to François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778; pen name "Voltaire"), French writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and defence of civil liberties.
   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 448:

     "What do you want? Nineteenth-century rationalism, Voltairian deism? We're living in a religious age, you know. I suppose Anglicanism might be a solution."

   • 1988, Edmund White, chapter 1, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:

     […] the skinny boy at the next table smirked with a thin Voltairian sneer.

Translations

of or pertaining to François-Marie Arouet, pen name Voltaire

• Czech: voltairovský (cs)
• Italian: volterriano (it) m
• Portuguese: voltairiano
• Spanish: volteriano

Noun

Voltairean (plural Voltaireans)

1. (philosophy) A person who subscribes to the philosophy of Voltaire.
   • 1855, Richard Francis Burton, chapter II, in A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah‎^[1], volume I, London: Tylston & Edwards, published 1893, page 21:

     Then hearing that I was a Darwaysh and doctor—he must be an Osmanli Voltairean, that little Turk—the official snorted a contemptuous snort.

   • 1922, G. K. Chesterton, chapter 3, in The Man Who Knew Too Much‎^[2]:

     “ […] But as for saints and relics and things, I fear I'm a bit of a Voltairian; what you would call a skeptic.”

Translations

person who subscribes to the philosophy of Voltaire

• Czech: voltairián m, voltairovec m
• Portuguese: voltairiano m

Anagrams

• levator ani, venatorial, venoatrial