Death of a Salesman

American  

noun

1. a play (1949) by Arthur Miller.

---

Death of a Salesman Cultural  

1. (1949) A Pulitzer Prize –winning play by the American writer Arthur Miller. Willy Loman, a salesman who finds himself regarded as useless in his occupation because of his age, kills himself. A speech made by a friend of Willy's after his suicide is well known and ends with the lines: “Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”

---

Example Sentences

Another adaptation, that of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," won six awards, more than any other work.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

As part of a new repertory run, Paul Mescal will make his National Theatre debut in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Tom Murphy's A Whistle in the Dark.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2025

Mescal, who won an Olivier Award in 2023 for A Streetcar Named Desire, will play Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2025

I mean, "Death of a Salesman," one of the great American plays of all time — to play Biff on Broadway, never thought that was ever going to happen.

From Salon • Apr. 29, 2023

He looked as if he was about to be turned away from a Death of a Salesman audition for looking too dead.

From Slate • Jul. 26, 2022