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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of comedy of manners

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

Morris fancies Bridget’s struggle to adapt as the franchise’s latest play on its classic comedy of manners.

From Salon • Feb. 13, 2025

The central deviation is that this “Speak No Evil,” with its more pronounced humor and catharsis, treats the other film’s scenario as a ghastly comedy of manners rather than as a brutalizing, unheroic descent.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2024

"The comedy of manners plays with the mores of civilization; it can lose its charm when civilisation succumbs to barbarity. In life, as in comedy, timing is essential."

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2024

Perhaps that is why the campus lends itself so readily to satire; it’s one of the few places contained yet familiar enough in which to stage a comedy of manners.

From New York Times • May 13, 2022

The chat rooms made her blog feel inconsequential, a comedy of manners, a mild satire about a world that was anything but mild.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie