theatrical
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the theater or dramatic presentations.
theatrical performances.
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suggestive of the theater or of acting; artificial, pompous, spectacular, or extravagantly histrionic.
a theatrical display of grief.
- Synonyms:
- extravagant, stagy, melodramatic, exaggerated
noun
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theatricals,
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dramatic performances, now especially as given by amateurs.
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artificial or histrionic actions.
-
-
a professional actor.
a family of renowned theatricals.
adjective
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of or relating to the theatre or dramatic performances
-
exaggerated and affected in manner or behaviour; histrionic
Other Word Forms
- half-theatrical adjective
- nontheatric adjective
- nontheatrical adjective
- nontheatrically adverb
- overtheatrical adjective
- overtheatrically adverb
- overtheatricalness noun
- quasi-theatrical adjective
- quasi-theatrically adverb
- semitheatric adjective
- semitheatrical adjective
- semitheatrically adverb
- theatricality noun
- theatrically adverb
- theatricalness noun
- untheatric adjective
- untheatrical adjective
- untheatrically adverb
Etymology
Origin of theatrical
1550–60; < Late Latin theātric ( us ) < Greek theātrikós, equivalent to theā́tr ( on ) theater + -ikos -ic + -al 1
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.
A famously theatrical monologue, given by a man as police arrested him at a Chinese restaurant in Australia, has officially been preserved by the country's national archive.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026
Paramount is a more logical steward of the traditional theatrical model, Cameron argued.
From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026
Buying the rights to theatrical movies from other studios, he added, has gotten difficult because of the proliferation of streaming competitors.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026
Mike Hopkins, head of Amazon MGM, said the studio invests in theatrical films for box-office revenue and Prime Video content.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026
Ethan said, "It's a theatrical saying. It means an open audition. Even if they mean people, they call it a cattle call."
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
