Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A short play.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A short play (dramatic work).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a short play

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

play +‎ -let

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word playlet.

Examples

  • The only thing Scalzi forgot in his playlet was the constant reader carping that "Famous Author's books used to be so good, I'd buy them hardcover sight unseen, but now he's just crapping out stuff by the numbers, I'll just buy used copies instead..."

    Making Light: "No one goes around suggesting that everyone should become their own autonomous cheesemakers and cheering the death of the cheese industry. Why? Because that would result in a lot of shitty cheese." 2010

  • In Korea, Lloyd never thought the playlet could be a hit record, but it soon became a sensation, at one point selling nearly 200,000 copies a day -- and rapidly shot to #1 on the pop charts.

    Jim Crow Bluesman Harry 1998

  • The playlet is a very definite thing -- and yet it is difficult to define.

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • The soul of a playlet is the clash of the wills of the characters, from which fly the revealing flashes;

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • These examples I have cited to demonstrate that the return from the playlet is a most variable quantity.

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • If your playlet is a comedy, make it a comedy throughout; it if is a deeply human story, let it end as it began; [1] if you are writing a straight drama or a melodrama, keep your playlet straight drama or melodrama all the way through.

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • "The Villain Still Pursued Her," tells as plainly as a whole paragraph could that the playlet is a travesty, making fun of the old blood-and-thunder melodrama.

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • He knew, then, that he would have to tell the next audience and every other that the playlet is a farce,

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • In the chapter on the germ idea we saw that the theme or subject of a playlet is a problem that must be solved with complete satisfaction.

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

  • He pondered the matter and saw that if the announcement in plain type on the billboards and in the program that his playlet was a travesty was not enough, he would have to tell the audience by a plain statement from the stage before his playlet began.

    Writing for Vaudeville Brett Page

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.