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

Winifred might be the smartest, wittiest and most brutal psychopath to grace the pages of a comedy of manners that turns into a horror show — all in an age rife with repression.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2025

"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

It’s not entirely clear what we’re meant to make of Dunham’s film, which reads like a cri de coeur one moment and a boldly bawdy comedy of manners the next.

From Washington Post • Aug. 3, 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