Parnassian: Meaning and Definition of

Par•nas•si•an

Pronunciation: (pär-nas'ē-un), [key]
— adj.
  1. pertaining to Mount Parnassus.
  2. pertaining to poetry.
  3. of, pertaining to, or noting a school of French poets of the latter half of the 19th century, characterized chiefly by a belief in art for art's sake, by an emphasis on metrical form, and by the repression of emotive elements: so called from Le Parnasse Contemporain, the title of their first collection of poems, published in 1866.
—n.
  1. a member of the Parnassian school of French poets.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.