histrionic

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Roman, the scenic and histrionic were the vital features of a production.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective Of or relating to actors or acting.
  2. adjective Excessively dramatic or emotional; affected.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

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Examples (50)

  • I have already said that I had made up my mind in my earliest days to go to the Bar or on the Stage, and that love for the histrionic art (sometimes called the footlights) never left me. —  The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton)
  • While AC's post was a little over the top and histrionic, my guess is that the current health care situation didn't come about because of bush. —  Think Progress
  • I thought the performances were histrionic, and the disjointed story about the rise of a California oil tycoon could have been told in far less than (an interminable) 2 hours and 40 minutes. —  Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch
  • [21 Robert Wilson must have been passé as an actor in 1589, if indeed he was then living, while Strange's company was composed of younger and rising men, all recently selected for their histrionic abilities from several companies, amongst which, it appears evident, the Queen's company was not then included, though it is likely that in 1591 some Queen's men joined Strange's company. —  Shakespeare's Lost Years in London, 1586-1592
  • Six or seven members of the club abruptly discovered in themselves an unsuspected latent passion for the histrionic art. —  Mademoiselle Olympe Zabriski
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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histrionic:   histrionics
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Late Latin histriōnicus, from Latin histriō, histriōn-, actor, probably of Etruscan origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French histrionique = Spanish histriónico = Italian istrionico, from Latin histrionicus, from histrio(n-), a stage-player: see histrion.
 

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/hɪstrɪˈɑnɪk/
by American Heritage

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