panjandrum

Questions about panjandrum

What does panjandrum mean?

panjandrum means "an important or influential (and often overbearing) person".

How many syllables are in panjandrum?

panjandrum has 3 syllables and divides as pan-jan-drum under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for panjandrum?

Close synonyms include very important person, VIP, high-up, dignitary, high muckamuck. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is panjandrum a common word?

panjandrum is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.