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comedy of manners

American  

noun

  1. a comedy satirizing the manners and customs of a social class, especially one dealing with the amorous intrigues of fashionable society.

comedy of manners British  

noun

  1. a comedy dealing with the way of life and foibles of a social group

  2. the genre represented by works of this type

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of comedy of manners

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The artificial Comedy, or Comedy of manners, is quite extinct on our stage.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Lamb, Charles

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.