Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of William James, his philosophy, or his teachings.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or characteristic of Henry James or his writings.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to M R James (1862-1936) or his writings, particularly his scholarly ghost stories.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of Henry James or his writing
  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of William James or his philosophy or his teachings

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

James +‎ -ian

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Examples

  • My faith in Henry James notwithstanding (recall the Jamesian dictum to allow the writer his/her donnée and criticize only what is made of it), that reader's comment lingered (obviously!), and its impact wasn't fully assuaged even when other, equally wise authority figures told me otherwise.

    Practicing Writing 2010

  • Where Carol Shields is swift, effervescent, and inclined to ideas, Alice Elliott Dark is introspective, brooding, willing to risk a kind of Jamesian stasis in the hope of deepening our engagement with her characters.

    An Endangered Species Oates, Joyce Carol 2000

  • Given the calibre of many of the people already there, I believe we can safely answer that with a resounding Jamesian affirmative.

    Education needs a new gaffer – call Lord Fergie | Harry Pearson 2011

  • Behind the scenes, Wharton arranged to have Percy Lubbock, a James acolyte and the author of the very Jamesian "Craft of Fiction," given the job.

    The Afterlife of the Lion Joseph Epstein 2012

  • I quite liked Heart-Shaped Box actually but it is ultimately a very traditional Jamesian ghost story.

    Voice of the Fans: What's Your Favorite Horror Novel? 2010

  • Or maybe I just prefer my insights into Victorian drug enthusiasms with a dose of a Jamesian humor.

    A Miracle Drug's Dark Side Deborah Blum 2011

  • Those who are familiar with James's ghost stories will see at once that this is a quintessentially Jamesian situation, so much so that one wonders why it never occurred to him to write about it.

    Her Master's Voice From the Other Side Terry Teachout 2011

  • The accusation in "Monopolizing the Master" is that, through winning over the James heirs as well as librarians wherever Jamesian material was stored, Edel was able to tie up the James papers for his all but exclusive use for more than a generation.

    The Afterlife of the Lion Joseph Epstein 2012

  • For all his rhetoric about objectivity and rationalism, the Jamesian is not a scientist, but a mystic.

    The Religion of Prediction Tim Marchman 2011

  • And Mr. Hollinghurst does all this while preserving a truly Jamesian fineness of perception, his own consciousness darting around those of his characters, recording every desire and hesitation and misunderstanding.

    The (Private) Lives of the Poets Adam Kirsch 2011

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