Victorian period
Victorian period definition
The period of British history when Queen Victoria ruled; it includes the entire second half of the nineteenth century, a time when Britain was the most powerful nation in the world. The Victorian period was known for a rather stern morality. It was also marked by a general earnestness about life and by a confidence that Britain’s domestic prosperity (see Industrial Revolution) and vast holdings overseas (see British Empire) were signs of the country’s overall righteousness (see white man’s burden). As the Victorian period continued, however, such easy beliefs were increasingly challenged.
Note: The Victorian period produced a great number of diverse writers and thinkers. (See Robert Browning; Charles Darwin; Charles Dickens; Rudyard Kipling; John Stuart Mill; Robert Louis Stevenson; and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.)
Read Also:
- Victorian values
plural noun 1. qualities considered to characterize the Victorian period, including enterprise and initiative and the importance of the family Compare Victorian (sense 2)
- Victoria-nyanza
[nahy-an-zuh, nee-, nyahn-zah] /naɪˈæn zə, ni-, ˈnyɑn zɑ/ noun 1. Victoria (def 10).
- Victoriate
noun 1. a silver coin of ancient Rome, first issued in the late 3rd century b.c., having a figure of Victory on the reverse.
- Victoriaville
[vik-tawr-ee-uh-vil, -tohr-] /vɪkˈtɔr i əˌvɪl, -ˈtoʊr-/ noun 1. a town in S Quebec, in E Canada.
- Victor II
noun 1. (Gebhard) 1018–57, German ecclesiastic: pope 1055–57.