English

edit

Etymology

edit

From clown +‎ -ish.

Pronunciation

edit

Adjective

edit

clownish (comparative more clownish, superlative most clownish)

  1. Resembling or characteristic of a circus clown; comical, ridiculous.
    • 1998, Bryan Senn, Drums of Terror: Voodoo in the Cinema:
      Even worse, the zombies' clownish makeup, with a stark white base and black shoe polish around the eyes, looks amateurish.
    • 2014 March 9, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, in The Guardian:
      Once again, City's defending was clownish. James McArthur drove into the area on the left and pulled a low cross towards the far post, where the horribly timid Gaël Clichy allowed Perch to bundle the ball past Costel Pantilimon.
    • 2005 May 14, Laura Barton, The Guardian:
      Indeed, when in close quarters to Rooney, it must prove almost irresistible to stick a plastic moustache and silly clownish shoes on the potato-headed fool.
  2. (now rare) Pertaining to peasants; rustic.
  3. (now rare) Uncultured, boorish; rough, coarse.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      Large were his limbes, and terrible his looke, / And in his clownish hand a sharp bore speare he shooke.
    • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Emma: [], volume I, London: [] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
      "He is very plain, undoubtedly—remarkably plain:—but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air. I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit