mise en scène
Americannoun
plural
mise en scènes, mise-en-scènes-
the process of setting a stage, with regard to placement of actors, scenery, properties, etc.
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the stage setting or scenery of a play.
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surroundings; environment.
noun
-
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the arrangement of properties, scenery, etc, in a play
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the objects so arranged; stage setting
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the environment of an event
Etymology
Origin of mise en scène
First recorded in 1830–1835; French: literally, “a placing on stage”
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.
I was looking for something complex — a woman's story, a thriller, a genre movie — something powerful, with space to direct and work on the mise en scène.
From Salon • Sep. 17, 2021
Dress up as a detective, create a crime scene on your stoop, tape it off with caution tape, and then toss candy out from within your mise en scène.
From Slate • Sep. 29, 2020
Peter Farrelly, if we ignore the harassment issues, knows what he’s doing, picking great line readings and barely putting a foot wrong with an elegant mise en scène.
From The Guardian • Feb. 22, 2019
When you see that she’s clutching a wrinkly brown paper bag, the mise en scène becomes somehow sadder.
From The New Yorker • Nov. 8, 2018
And the too deliberately bizarre mise en scène, though for a moment it piqued curiosity, had soon proved wearisome, and we were glad—at least, Jimmy and I were—to have it veiled from our eyes.
From The Book of Susan A Novel by Dodd, Lee Wilson
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.
