famesque

English

Etymology

From fame +‎ -esque; coined by The Washington Post writer Amy Argetsinger in 2009.

Adjective

famesque (comparative more famesque, superlative most famesque)

1. (rare) famous for being famous.
   • 2009 August 10, Amy Argetsinger, “They Must Be Stars Because They Get So Much Press, but What Is It They Do Again?”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.:

     Sienna Miller is not famous. She is famesque.

   • 2009 August 16, “Things to Watch”, in St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Fla., page 2B, column 6:

     SERIES PREMIERE, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, 10 p.m., E! Speaking of famesque, Kim Kardashian’s sisters — the short one and the sasquatch — get their own show.

   • 2012, Marjorie Garber, “Dig It: Looking for Fame in All the Wrong Places”, in Loaded Words, New York, N.Y.: Fordham University Press, page 142:

     When Fame is the title of a musical, Notorious the stage name of a rapper, and Celebrity the name of a cruise line (or a hair salon) we have moved into territory where these terms of approbation and rebuke have become brands. The words themselves, rather than anything or anyone they might designate, have become—to employ a recent coinage—famesque.

   • 2020, C. H. Mitford, “The High Price of Fame”, in Cast of Riverdale (Scoop! The Unauthorized Biography; issue #3), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, pages 78–79:

     We know that’s hard to imagine because it seems everyone wants to be famous these days and strives to be at least famesque, if not famous for actually doing something.