Definitions

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

  • adjective Of or relating to an imagined European kingdom characterized by provincialism, nationalism, and political intrigue.
  • adjective Of or relating to a hypothetical foreign nation, as in discussions of international law or economic theory.

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

  • adjective Of or having the characteristics of adventure, romance, and intrigue, as in works of romantic fiction.
  • adjective Used to describe a fictitious and generic foreign government or person, used to state a general or hypothetical situation.
  • noun A person from the fictional land of Ruritania.

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

  • adjective of or pertaining to or characteristic of Ruritania (or any other imaginary country)
  • noun an imaginary inhabitant of Ruritania

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Ruritania, imaginary realm in the novel The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

After Ruritania, a fictional kingdom used as the setting for stories by Anthony Hope (1863-1933).

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Examples

  • Tomorrow is the book discussion day for The Kestrel, so please do remember to stop by and revel in Ruritanian revolutionary goodness.

    Barnstorming on an Invisible Segway moiread 2009

  • At this time the industry was in a state of flux and readership was split amongst such disparate tastes as readers of popular novelists Marie Corelli, Elinor Glyn and Ouida, adventure novelists H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling, and the Ruritanian genre, and readers of a more serious vein of fiction – G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, or the Webbs – though Dickens, Eliot and Thackeray remained perinneal favorites.

    The Edwardian Publishing Industry | Edwardian Promenade 2009

  • Trying to find an institution absurd enough to represent the false promises of true love and girlish happiness which American society dangled before the young women of the 1920s, Dorothy Parker hit on a Ruritanian monarchy.

    Prepare for the reign of Charles the Meddler | Nick Cohen 2011

  • A chest full of ribbons and medals that, to a few jaundiced eyes, makes him look like a caricature of a Ruritanian Field Marshal.

    Michael Brenner: David Petraeus -- Hero Celebrity Michael Brenner 2010

  • A chest full of ribbons and medals that, to a few jaundiced eyes, makes him look like a caricature of a Ruritanian Field Marshal.

    Michael Brenner: David Petraeus -- Hero Celebrity Michael Brenner 2010

  • One might argue that the Ruritanian ways of characters in far-off Georgia have little bearing on the lives of ordinary Americans or Europeans.

    Moscow Bombing: Literature Sheds Light On Problems In Russia 2010

  • One might argue that the Ruritanian ways of characters in far-off Georgia have little bearing on the lives of ordinary Americans or Europeans.

    Moscow Bombing: Literature Sheds Light On Problems In Russia 2010

  • A chest full of ribbons and medals that, to a few jaundiced eyes, makes him look like a caricature of a Ruritanian Field Marshal.

    Michael Brenner: David Petraeus -- Hero Celebrity Michael Brenner 2010

  • Of course, royalty is an extension of the performing arts, but the show put on by Monaco resembled a tawdry Ruritanian operetta: Rainier got married in a costume based on the uniform worn by Napoleon's marshals, and despite his own lack of military credentials, loaded his chest with so many medals, orders and aiguilettes that he resembled a portly, mustachioed Christmas tree.

    Grace Kelly: Style Icon 2010

  • A chest full of ribbons and medals that, to a few jaundiced eyes, makes him look like a caricature of a Ruritanian Field Marshal.

    Michael Brenner: David Petraeus -- Hero Celebrity Michael Brenner 2010

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