Proustian

adjective

Proust·​ian ˈprü-stē-ən 

: of, relating to, suggestive of, or associated with Marcel Proust or his writings: such as

a

: marked by a complex, highly detailed style

In spite of its Proustian sentences and its surrealist feints, Krasznahorkai's novel is in fact a rather elementary tale.

—Robert Boyers

… as she described the mid-20th-century Schenectady city-parks tennis scene in Proustian detail, the hours flew by like anvils.

—Charles Leerhsen

b

: relating to or evoking the recall of a forgotten memory

… there is something Proustian about the tea sandwich. For some people, it evokes warm memories of church socials, showers, Mom's bridge-club luncheons, and similar white-glove occasions.

—Evelyn Battaglia

… Terry had already started a fire using several cords of dried hickory, whose smell can induce Proustian reveries in southerners everywhere.

—Pat Conroy

Examples of Proustian in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Danish and Swedish customers appear to take a Proustian pleasure, all smiles in the flickering firelight. —Ann Abel, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025

The film takes on Proustian dimensions by using a smoking pipe as the catalyst for the old man’s memories, which come to life in beautiful drawings by animator Kunio Katō. —Jeremy Fassler, Vulture, 2 Mar. 2025

Max’s new medical drama, The Pitt, is that Proustian French fry. —Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 9 Jan. 2025

If James is the rebel with a spray can, Korman is the philosopher with a paintbrush, blending Proustian introspection with Japanese aesthetics to create a visual love letter to time and memory. —Lilian Raji, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024

Jolie frequently characterizes small performance gestures from Hayek Pinault, like the ashing of a cigarette or stirring a cup of tea, as Proustian triggers, amplifying them in the photography and on the soundtrack. —Vikram Murthi, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2024

Others are childhood favorites that continue to serve up Proustian madeleines as adults. —Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2024

Marcel Proust is so famous for his evocative writing that any instance in literature in which a memory or feeling is conjured by a sensory trigger is called a Proustian moment. —Anna Luisa Rodriguez, Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2023

The effect of this habit is Proustian but its origin is not. —Joshua Hunt, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1923, in the meaning defined above