anecdotaladj.
/ˌanᵻkˈdəʊtl/, U.S. /ˌænəkˈdoʊd(ə)l/ 1. Relating to or consisting of anecdotes; of the nature of an anecdote; characterized by the telling of anecdotes. Also: given to or skilled in telling anecdotes.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > anecdote > [adjective]
anecdotal1715
anecdotical1741
anecdotic1768
1715 J. C. Let. 27 Aug. in Lett. Eminent Men to R. Thoresby (1832) II. 306 I have nothing anecdotal to tell you.
1794 T. Paine Age of Reason 22 The historical and anecdotal part of the Bible.
1861 C. Dickens Let. 1 July (1997) IX. 433 He was brilliantly talkative, anecdotal, and droll.
1907 J. A. Hammerton (title) Stevensoniana: an anecdotal life and appreciation of R. L. Stevenson.
1993 Fortune 8 Feb. 138/1 The kind of voyeuristic, anecdotal stuff that will make Gates..a hot read throughout computerdom.
2. Art. Concerned with or depicting small narrative incidents; = anecdotic adj. 3. Cf. anecdote n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > painting > painting according to subject > [adjective] > genre
rhyparographic1815
anecdotic1833
genre1849
moyen-age1849
anecdotal1870
slice of life1895
1870 L. Viardot Wonders Ital. Art iv. 213 Second-rate painters, who never rose above anecdotal painting.
1937 S. Sitwell Narr. Pictures i. 3 These [paintings] are as full of anecdotal detail as any painting by Hogarth.
1986 B. Dijkstra Idols of Perversity x. 337 The characteristic flair of certain late nineteenth century salon painters for anything sensational and anecdotal.
2004 D. P. Corbett World in Paint i. 14 The art-historical division between a visually experimental and mobile French ‘modernism’ and a dully literary, anecdotal, or narrative English ‘realism’ will not stand up to much hard scrutiny.
3. Of evidence (usually medical or scientific): consisting of, or based on, reports of individual cases rather than systematic research or analysis; (also) involving such evidence.
ΚΠ
1889 Nature 25 July 303/1 A great many of the cases relied on rest on merely anecdotal evidence, and Weismann examines and dismisses many types of them.
1965 Math. in Biol. & Med. (Med. Res. Council) v. 227 For many years leukaemia has been alleged to occur in clusters, though the evidence has been largely anecdotal and its interpretation intuitive.
1988 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 16 Apr. 1106/2 The use of the bidet has been advocated on an anecdotal basis for preventing pruritus ani.
1992 N.Y. Times 26 Mar. a1/2 Granny dumping..was unheard of 15 years ago but now the anecdotal evidence tells us it has become something of a trend.
2013 220 Triathlon Sept. 78/4 Anecdotal evidence suggests that wheat-intolerants can eat spelt with no ill effect.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1715