Standard Lemma guide

Havishamesque

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˌhævɪʃəmˈɛsk/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛsk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Stuck in the past; also, refusing to accept change or failure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fossilized, Miss Havishamesque, anachronistic, antediluvial, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, archaic, backward, backwards, behind the times, cobwebbed, cobwebby, dated, defunct, desuete, discontinued, disused, dootsie, elderly, extinct, expired, Havishamesque, hoary, idle, mouldy, obsolete, old, oldfangled, old-fashioned, old school, outdated, outmoded, out of date, out of fashion, outworn, parachronistic, passé, primitive, superannuated, superseded, unemployed, unoccupied, venerable, workless

Antonyms: none provided

History

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.