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• passion play
  passion play

  noun

  a dramatic representation of the passion of Christ, as that given every ten years at the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.
• Passion play
  Passion play

  noun

  a play depicting the Passion of Christ

passion play

American  

Or Passion Play

noun

1. a dramatic representation of the passion of Christ, as that given every ten years at the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.

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Passion play British  

noun

1. a play depicting the Passion of Christ

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Etymology

Origin of passion play

First recorded in 1865–70

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

passion play Passion play

Philip Breen, who is responsible for the adaptation, first approached Mullan a number of years ago about an eight-hour passion play he envisaged with a community chorus.

From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2025

Grad assistant Jaelynn Penn, who played for the Bruins last season, tallies each passion play during the game using a pen, sheet of paper and clipboard on the bench.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2023

The Iranian passion play is a recurring motif, both on the stage and in the streets.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2022

“But we have an endless desire to bring our passion play back to the stage and we are highly motivated.”

From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2022

The passion play given every ten years at Oberammergau, Bavaria, is a survival of the old mystery play.

From Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10 The Guide by Charles Herbert Sylvester

"Superstar" is structured similarly to a traditional Christian Passion play, depicting Jesus' final days.

From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2022

No wonder his contemporaries have rushed to help prop up Elder’s Passion play of pomposity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2021

It was the fifty-eighth anniversary of the operation, which ended in catastrophe; the annual commemoration has become a kind of Miami Passion play.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 29, 2019

A Good Friday service and procession will replace a Passion play which was cancelled after a council official did not realise it was a religious event.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2014

In it the play is taken from the Old Testament, and the tableaux from the New Testament—the reverse of the Passion play.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 097, January, 1876 by Various

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