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

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