Search the Dictionary

One who takes the leading part in a drama; hence, one who takes lead in some great scene, enterprise, conflict, or the like. Shakespeare, the protagonist on the great of modern poetry. De Quincey.

The first part of a drama, of a poem, or the like; the introduction; opposed to epitasis. B. Jonson.

A drama exemplifying a proverb. Book of Proverbs, a canonical book of the Old Testament, containing a great variety of wise maxims.

A similar figure moved by the hand or by a wire in a mock drama; a marionette; a wooden actor in a play. At the pipes of some carved organ move, The gilded puppets dance. Pope.

or our rehearsal. Shak. Dress rehearsal (Theater), a private preparatory performance of a drama, opera, etc., in costume.

A dramatic performance; as, a theatrical representation; a representation of Hamlet.

Renewed performance of, or interest in, something, as the drama and literature.

A part, or character, performed by an actor in a drama; hence, a part of function taken or assumed by any one; as, he has now taken the rôle of philanthropist. Title rôle, the part, or character, which gives the title to a play, as the part of Hamlet in the play of that name.

An accompanied dramatic recitative, interspersed with passages of melody, or followed by a full aria. Rockstro.

al. All these situations communicate a scenical animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically. De Quincey.

Suited or intended to excite temporarily great interest or emotion; melodramatic; emotional; as, sensational plays or novels; sensational preaching; sensational journalism; a sensational report.

A dramatic work, partly in dialogue and partly in song, of a kind popular in Germany in the latter part of the 18th century. It was often comic, had modern characters, and patterned its music on folk song with strictly subordinated accompaniment.

porary state or relation at a moment of action which excites interest, as of persons in a dramatic scene. There's situation for you! there's an heroic group! Sheridan.

formances; hence, the theater; the playhouse; hence, also, the profession of representing dramatic compositions; the drama, as acted or exhibited. Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the stage. Pope. Lo! Where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age. C. Sprague.…

A dramatic or theatrical entertainment. Dryden.

ied by, or making prominent, the individuality of a writer or an artist; as, a subjective drama or painting; a subjective writer.

A group or series of four dramatic pieces, three tragedies and one satyric, or comic, piece (or sometimes four tragedies), represented consequently on the Attic stage at the Dionysiac festival.

An edifice in which dramatic performances or spectacles are exhibited for the amusement of spectators; anciently uncovered, except the stage, but in modern times roofed.

Of or pertaining to a theater, or to the scenic representations; resembling the manner of dramatic performers; histrionic; hence, artificial; as, theatrical performances; theatrical gestures. -- The*at`ri*cal"i*ty, n. -- The*at"ric*al*ly, adv. No meretricious aid whatever has been called in -- no trick, no illusion o…

Dramatic performances; especially, those produced by amateurs. Such fashionable cant terms as `theatricals,' and `musicals,' invented by the flippant Topham, still survive among his confraternity of frivolity. I. Disraeli.