potboiler

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One of the characters featured in Brown's fictional potboiler is an albino Opus Dei ...

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Definitions (3)

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  1. noun A literary or artistic work of poor quality, produced quickly for profit.

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Examples (50)

  • A potboiler is, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, "a work of literature or art executed for the purpose of 'boiling the pot,' i.e., of gaining a livelihood." —  The Word Detective
  • I thought he was still developing; and I hazarded the unhappy guess that 'The Importance of Being Earnest' was in idea a young work written or projected long before under the influence of Gilbert and furbished up for Alexander as a potboiler. —  Oscar Wilde, Volume 2
  • This week's supernatural potboiler is David S. Goyer's The Unborn (Rogue / Universal), from the low budget horror specialists at Platinum Dunes (2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hitcher remake and The Invisible both in 2007). —  /Film
  • From the Urals to the Atlantic, Scott's potboiler - written to pull its author out of bankruptcy - was the first commercial bestseller
  • One of the characters featured in Brown's fictional potboiler is an albino Opus Dei ... —  The Register's Daily Blog
 

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This word has been looked up 49 times.

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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From the phrase boil the pot, to provide one's livelihood.
 

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