penny dreadful
noun
a cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime, or violence; dime novel.
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penny dreadful
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penny-dreadful
penny-dreadfulnouna cheap, often lurid or sensational book or magazine
penny dreadful
Americannoun
Chiefly British.
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penny dreadfuls
plural
penny-dreadful
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of penny dreadful
First recorded in 1870–75
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.
See Examples For:
The 19th century had a similar macabre popular fascination, the penny dreadful.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2021
Conan Doyle wanted his protagonist to rise above the cheap thrills of the penny dreadful.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 3, 2017
Van Helsing educates Victor in the ways of vampires with the help of a penny dreadful called “Varney the Vampire, or The Feast of Blood,” and then practically adopts the young doctor on the street.
From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2014
He refers to his adopted nephew as a “foundling,” as if this were a penny dreadful, which it kind of is.
From Slate ● Jun. 13, 2012
On his bedside table were loose matches, unused stationery, a penny dreadful left facedown at the page he had stopped reading.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
It is the rare as-told-to book, or one created in collaboration with an author-for-hire, that is well-written, but “A Piece of Light” is filled with a superfluity of penny-dreadful prose.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 19, 2018
Which can make the penny-dreadful plot even more giggle-icious.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2017
Instead, she praised it backhandedly as “a shallow masterpiece” that is “overwrought” with “obvious penny-dreadful popular theatrics.”
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2015
Starts 28 JuneUntil 14 October The whole thing has a penny-dreadful tabloid feel, and Munch might have based it on a grisly story in a Norwegian newspaper.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 25, 2012
The wildest flight of fancy of an irresponsible novelist had never created such a character in penny-dreadful fiction.
From The Dark Star by William Dodge Stevens
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