Voltaire
Enlightenment wit, exiled
Voltaire was the pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), a French Enlightenment writer known for his wit, his attacks on the Catholic Church, and his advocacy of civil liberties.
His satirical novella *Candide* mocks philosophical optimism.
Voltaire now stands for sharp-tongued intellectual courage and skepticism toward authority: She delivered a Voltairean takedown of the proposal.
Meaning opposite to words
- parodySatirical imitation
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- CandideNaively optimistic person
- lampoonHarsh public mockery
ridicule · caricature · wit · sarcasm · social commentary · critique · burlesque · farce
Naively optimistic person
- playwrightAuthor of stage dramas
- essayistAuthor of short prose
- historianExpert on past events
- poetWriter of verse
tragedian · correspondent · pamphleteer · aphorist · epistolary · prolific · pen name
Basis or justification
- toleranceWillingness to accept difference
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
- progressMovement toward improvement
- secularismSeparation of faith, state
rationalism · skepticism · humanism · Diderot · reform · intellectual · equality · empiricism
Aggressive argumentative discourse
- provocativeMeant to provoke response
- iconoclasticAttacking cherished beliefs
- hereticalContrary to accepted doctrine
- subversiveSeeking to undermine authority
incendiary · exile · banned books · censorship · Bastille · inflammatory · contentious · radical
irony
Meaning opposite to words
lampoon · ridicule · caricature · wit · sarcasm · social commentary · critique · burlesque · farce · pastiche
Candide
Naively optimistic person
- playwrightAuthor of stage dramas
- essayistAuthor of short prose
- historianExpert on past events
poet · tragedian · correspondent · pamphleteer · aphorist · epistolary · prolific · pen name
reason
Basis or justification
- toleranceWillingness to accept difference
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
- progressMovement toward improvement
secularism · rationalism · skepticism · humanism · Diderot · reform · intellectual · equality · empiricism · freethought
polemic
Aggressive argumentative discourse
- provocativeMeant to provoke response
- iconoclasticAttacking cherished beliefs
- hereticalContrary to accepted doctrine
subversive · incendiary · exile · banned books · censorship · Bastille · inflammatory · contentious · radical · unorthodox
epigram
Pithy, memorable saying
repartee · cleverness · wordplay · sharpness · bon mot · jest · irony · sarcasm · brilliance · drollery
- 1700s WritersAlexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Richardson, Daniel Defoe, Ann Radcliffe
- 18th Century WritersDefoe, Swift, Richardson, Goldsmith, Sheridan
- enlightenment educationliberal arts, classical languages, rhetoric, logic, natural philosophy
- Enlightenment FiguresRousseau, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu, John Locke, Locke
- Enlightenment ThinkersLocke, Rousseau, Kant, Hume, Diderot
- European AuthorsShakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Jane Austen, Dante
VoltaireRousseau
French surname, philosopher or painter
William Blake · Romanticism · irrationalism · sentimentalism · mysticism
VoltaireBlaise Pascal
Seventeenth-century French mathematician-theologian
VoltaireRousseau
French surname, philosopher or painter
apologist · propagandist · Dostoyevsky · dogmatist · Kierkegaard
- Cabaret VoltaireAvant-garde Zurich venue