bodice ripper

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a modern Gothic novel or historical romance, usually in paperback format, featuring at least one passionate love scene, characteristically one in which the heroine vainly resists submitting to the villain or hero.

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bodice ripper British  

noun

1. informal a romantic novel, usually on a historical theme, that involves some sex and violence

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Example Sentences

In the early 1980s, still the heyday of the bodice ripper, literary critic Janice Radway set out to prove the haters wrong.

From Washington Post • Nov. 1, 2018

Dismissing “Outlander” as a bodice ripper would be a serious misunderstanding of why this show is so appealing.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2017

If you are reading Ann Coulter or a trashy bodice ripper you are gaining and learning nothing.

From New York Times • Apr. 15, 2017

The Fourth would add 50,000 new terms, from bodice ripper to minivan to sabermetrics, bringing the total to half a million and growing the book by 300 pages.

From Slate • Jan. 12, 2015

Is it worth risking your life for the sake of a bodice ripper?

From Time Magazine Archive