adj
Meaning 1
Marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Kafkaesque bureaucracies
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
Kafkaesque
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.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkæfkəˈʔɛsk/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkæfkəˈɹɛsk/ intrusive R
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˌkæfkəˈɛsk/
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General-American: /ˌkɑfkəˈʔɛsk/
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General-American: /ˌkæfkəˈʔɛsk/
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General-American: /ˌkɑfkəˈɛsk/
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General-American: /ˌkæfkəˈɛsk/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛsk
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CMU ARPABET: K AA1 F K AH0 EH1 S K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of looming danger.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
In the manner of something written by Franz Kafka.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
Meaning 4
relating to or in the manner of Franz Kafka or his writings
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
characterized by surreal distortion and a sense of impending danger
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the kafkaesque terror of the endless interrogations
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree English Kafka Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-iskbor. Vulgar Latin -iscus Italian -escobor. French -esquebor. English -esque English Kafkaesque From Kafka + -esque, after writer Franz Kafka. Piecewise doublet of Kafkaish.
Across languages
Translations
31 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: kafkaesk — marked by menacing complexity
- Afrikaans: kafkaagtig — marked by menacing complexity
- Arabic: كافايكي — marked by menacing complexity
- Catalan: kafkià — marked by menacing complexity
- Czech: kafkovský — marked by menacing complexity
- Danish: kafkask — marked by menacing complexity
- Dutch: kafkaësk — marked by menacing complexity
- Dutch: kafkaiaans — marked by menacing complexity
- Estonian: kafkalik — marked by menacing complexity
- Finnish: kafkamainen — marked by menacing complexity
- French: kafkaïen — marked by menacing complexity
- Galician: kafkiano — marked by menacing complexity
- German: kafkaesk — marked by menacing complexity
- Greek: καφκικός (kafkikós) — marked by menacing complexity
- Hebrew: קפקאי (kafka'i) — marked by menacing complexity
- Hindi: काफ़कएस्क (kāfkaesk) — marked by menacing complexity
- Italian: kafkiano — marked by menacing complexity
- Japanese: カフカ的 (Kafukateki) — marked by menacing complexity
- Korean: 카프카적이다 (kapeukajeogida) — marked by menacing complexity
- Lithuanian: kafkiškas — marked by menacing complexity
- Macedonian: кафкијански (kafkijanski) — marked by menacing complexity
- Norwegian: kafkask — marked by menacing complexity
- Persian: کافکاوار (kâfkâvâr) — marked by menacing complexity
- Persian: کافکاطور (kâfkâtor) — marked by menacing complexity
- Polish: kafkowski — marked by menacing complexity
- Portuguese: kafkiano — marked by menacing complexity
- Russian: кафкиа́нский (kafkiánskij) — marked by menacing complexity
- Serbo-Croatian: kafkijanski — marked by menacing complexity
- Spanish: kafkiano — marked by menacing complexity
- Swedish: kafkaartad — marked by menacing complexity
- Swedish: Kafkaartad — marked by menacing complexity