dramatis personae
(used with a plural verb) the characters in a play.
(used with a singular verb) a list of the characters preceding the text of a play.
Origin of dramatis personae
1Words Nearby dramatis personae
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use dramatis personae in a sentence
It’s raining menAnd now, one after another, new dramatis personae, mostly ghosts, keep entering stage left, complicating what once seemed our simple soliloquy.
The Human Family Tree, It Turns Out, Is Complicated - Issue 102: Hidden Truths | Razib Khan | June 30, 2021 | NautilusBut a story this big, this consequential, needs a dramatis personae of dramatic people.
Edward Snowden’s Parasites: Evo Morales, Julian Assange & More | Michael Moynihan | July 5, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe book is structured with short chapters, turning the eye of the narrator between these 20 dramatis personae.
They also, not altogether abandoning classical allusions, changed the name of their dramatis personae.
How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves | W.H.G. KingstonApart from the plot or story the interest of a drama depends to a large extent on the dramatis personae.
Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism | F. V. N. Painter
All the rest of the dramatis personae enter, and indulge in exclamations of joy.
In particular are his dramatis personae creatures by no means calculated to overawe by some extraordinary weirdness or power.
Prophets of Dissent | Otto HellerI was comforted, and began a new piece, in which a king and queen were among the dramatis personae.
The True Story of My Life | Hans Christian Andersen
British Dictionary definitions for dramatis personae
/ (ˈdrɑːmətɪs pəˈsəʊnaɪ) /
the characters or a list of characters in a play or story
the main personalities in any situation or event
Origin of dramatis personae
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for dramatis personae
[ (dram-uh-tis puhr-soh-nee, drah-muh-tis puhr-soh-neye) ]
A Latin expression for “cast of characters.” It means literally “the persons of the drama” and is occasionally used at the beginning of scripts for plays as the title of the list of characters.
Notes for dramatis personae
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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