histrionic
Americanadjective
-
of or relating to actors or acting.
-
deliberately affected or self-consciously emotional; overly dramatic, in behavior or speech.
noun
adjective
-
excessively dramatic, insincere, or artificial
histrionic gestures
-
rare dramatic
noun
-
(plural) melodramatic displays of temperament
-
rare (plural, functioning as singular) dramatics
Other Word Forms
- histrionically adverb
- nonhistrionic adjective
- nonhistrionical adjective
- nonhistrionically adverb
- nonhistrionicalness noun
- unhistrionic adjective
Etymology
Origin of histrionic
1640–50; < Late Latin histrōnicus of actors, equivalent to histriōn- (stem of histriō ) actor (said to be < Etruscan ) + -icus -ic
Explanation
Anything that has to do with actors or acting can be called histrionic, like a Broadway actor's histrionic voice projection that would sound strange in everyday life but is perfect for the stage. The adjective histrionic, pronounced "his-tree-ON-ic," comes from the Latin words histrionicus and histrio which mean “actor.” It can describe things that have to do with acting on the stage, but it can also describe a person who in regular life is a little too dramatic and even over-acts, like your friend whose histrionic rantings make a trip to the grocery store seem like a matter of life and death.
Vocabulary lists containing histrionic
The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 8
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Into the Wild
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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.
“It asks a lot of people to try to step into a world like this one,” the actor says of the unabashedly histrionic screenplay.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026
But even by the standards of histrionic soccer outrage, their reaction was extreme.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
Worrying about rate cuts seems histrionic, and arguably irrelevant, since corporate earnings are strong.
From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025
But with Sandler’s less histrionic roles, expectations had to be left at the door.
From Salon • Jul. 27, 2025
She wondered if she should have been less histrionic and given them both the chance to have a calm conversation about what happened.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
