fourth wall

[fawrth wawl]

noun

1. the imaginary, invisible wall, as across the front of a stage, that separates the world constructed by a play, movie, television show, video game, or literary work from the actual world inhabited by the audience.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fourth wall¹

First recorded in 1800–10

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. break the fourth wall, to violate the conventional separation between the world of a play, movie, television show, video game, or literary work and the world inhabited by the viewer.

   The actor’s periodic asides to the audience break the fourth wall and elicit much-needed laughs.

Example Sentences

Infused by live music and inflected with hip-hop style poetry, “littleboy/littleman” crashes through the fourth wall to make direct contact with theatergoers, who are seated on three sides of the playing area and always just a high-five away.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Ms. Paulus has directed several major Broadway musicals, but her breakthrough was a long-running immersive riff on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” called “The Donkey Show” that opened in 1999, so she has a savvy gift for ignoring the fourth wall, and for that matter the first, second and third.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Breaking the fourth wall is something Ms. Case returns to periodically, which helps make her stories feel as intimate as conversations.

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“It never really broke the fourth wall for me. I had a profound sense of empathy but it was something that was separate from me. And he was always very polite to me — even like a mentor, in terms of creativity.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

His raging appetite compels him to break the fourth wall and beg the audience for a spare sandwich.

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