Kafkaesque

English

Etymology

From Kafka +‎ -esque, after writer Franz Kafka.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkæfkəˈɛsk/, (intrusive R) /ˌkæfkəˈɹɛsk/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑfkəˈɛsk/
Audio (USA) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛsk
Hyphenation: Kaf‧ka‧esque

Adjective

Kafkaesque (comparative more Kafkaesque, superlative most Kafkaesque)

Marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity.
Kafkaesque bureaucracies
- 2001, David Flusser, Jesus (3d ed; Jerusalem: Magnes), →ISBN, page 250:
  In the end, Jesus is not only a Kafkaesque, lonely, holy man, abandoned in his death and despised by his own people, but his teaching is not even considered to be like that of the Jewish Sages.
- 2011, L. Donskis, Modernity in Crisis: A Dialogue on the Culture of Belonging:
  The world is increasingly becoming a Single Central Europe with its Kafkaesque anonymity, Musilesque human-traits-free individuality, or the divided individual without individuality and indivisibility, Orwellesque Newspeak and total control, if not manufacturing, of history.
Marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of looming danger.
In the manner of something written by Franz Kafka.

Related terms

Kafkaian
Kafkatrap
Kafkian

Translations

marked by menacing complexity

Afrikaans: kafkaesk, kafkaagtig
Arabic: كافايكي‎ m
Catalan: kafkià (ca) m, kafkiana (ca) f
Czech: kafkovský (cs)
Danish: kafkask (da)
Dutch: kafkaësk (nl), kafkaiaans (nl)
Estonian: kafkalik
Finnish: kafkamainen (fi)
French: kafkaïen (fr)
Galician: kafkiano m, kafkiana f
German: kafkaesk (de)
Greek: καφκικός (el) (kafkikós)
Hebrew: קפקאי‎ (kafka'i)
Hindi: काफ़कएस्क (kāfkaesk)
Italian: kafkiano (it)
Japanese: カフカ的 (Kafukateki)
Korean: 카프카적이다 (kapeukajeogida)
Lithuanian: kafkiškas
Macedonian: кафкијански (kafkijanski)
Norwegian: kafkask (no)
Persian: کافکاوار‎ (Kāfkrāvār), کافکاطور‎ (kāfkrātor)
Polish: kafkowski m
Portuguese: kafkiano (pt)
Russian: кафкиа́нский (ru) (kafkiánskij)
Serbo-Croatian: kafkijanski (sh)
Spanish: kafkiano (es)
Swedish: kafkaartad, Kafkaartad

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Swedish: ^{(please verify)} kafkaartad