Words / C2

kafk-uh-ESK/ˌkæfkəˈesk/

Kafkaesque means nightmarishly illogical and trapping, like Kafka’s bureaucracy: a Kafkaesque form, Kafkaesque delay. Absurd and nightmarish are everyday cousins; byzantine is complex bureaucracy without the dream-logic. Capital K is usual. Do not call a merely long queue Kafkaesque.

Meaning

Nightmarishly complex, illogical, and oppressive, like a Kafka story.

Examples

• “A Kafkaesque portal asked for a password to request a password reset.”
• “The portal was Kafkaesque: you needed a password to request the password reset.”
• “Byzantine rules are tangled; Kafkaesque ones also feel dreamlike and inescapable. A slow till is not the word.”

Good to know

Absurdist, oppressive complexity (from Kafka). Capital K usual. Close: nightmarish / byzantine (tangled rules). Not an ordinary queue.

Near in meaning

nightmarish

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