dandyish

English

Etymology

From dandy +‎ -ish.

Adjective

dandyish (comparative more dandyish, superlative most dandyish)

1. Characteristic of or resembling the style of a dandy.

   Synonyms: dandiacal, foppish; see also Thesaurus:foppish

   • 1916 December 29, James Joyce, chapter II, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 83:

     The latter was a stranger to him but in the darkness, by the aid of the glowing cigarette tips, he could make out a pale dandyish face over which a smile was travelling slowly, a tall overcoated figure and a hard hat.

   • 2002, Julian Rathbone, A Very English Agent, London: Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 80:

     His clothes were sombre, clean but not immaculate, pressed, but yesterday perhaps not today. In short, neither slovenly nor dandyish.

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

     As he crossed the drawing room he acknowledged himself with a flattered smile in a mirror. He was wearing a wing collar, and something dandyish in him, some memory of the licence and discipline of being in a play, lifted his mood.

Derived terms

• dandyishly
• dandyishness