Rabelaisian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by coarse humor and exuberant enjoyment of life, often in a way that celebrates bodily pleasures and indulgences
2. Describing a manner that embodies a jovial and robust spirit, embracing the joys of earthly existence and laughter
3. Pertaining to a style that revels in boisterous humor and the celebration of vitality, reflecting a rich appreciation for the human condition

Etymology: François Rabelais was a French Renaissance writer, a former monk and physician, whose sprawling comic novels about the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel are crammed with gross-out jokes, feasts, drinking, and sexual innuendo. His exuberant earthiness was so distinctive that readers came to label that style after him, and the adjective "Rabelaisian" was formed from his name in the French form "rabelaisien" and then taken into English as a calque, meaning that English speakers translated the French word's structure rather than borrowing it whole. The English adjective keeps the sense French readers gave it: boisterous, coarse humor that revels in the body and in bawdy talk, often wrapped in learned allusion. Because Rabelais's books were so bold, the name became a shorthand for a whole comic temperament, so a "Rabelaisian" joke or party is one that is raucous and unembarrassed rather than merely rude.

Synonyms: boisterous, raucous, humorous, exuberant, lively

Antonyms: serious, sober, restrained, quiet, reserved