Caligulan

English

Alternative forms

• Caligulian, Caligulean

Etymology

Caligula +‎ -an, named after Roman Emperor Caligula (12 CE–41 CE).

Adjective

Caligulan (comparative more Caligulan, superlative most Caligulan)

1. Of or pertaining to Caligula (AD 12–41), Roman Emperor.
2. (transferred sense) Brutally cruel and tyrannical.
   • 2016, George F. Will, “The ‘big price’ Paul Ryan has paid for supporting Donald Trump”, in The Washington Post:

     The Caligulan malice with which Donald Trump administered Paul Ryan’s degradation is an object lesson in the price of abject capitulation to power.

   • 2019 September 20, Derek Thompson, “WeWork and the Great Unicorn Delusion”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     In many ways, the company’s four-week tailspin has been a one-of-a-kind spectacle. Documents filed in anticipation of its public offering revealed a pattern of behavior from its founder and chief executive, Adam Neumann, that fits somewhere on the spectrum between highly eccentric and vaguely Caligulan.

Translations

pertaining to Caligula

• French: caligulien