penny dreadful

noun

Chiefly British.

plural

penny dreadfuls 

1. a cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime, or violence; dime novel.

penny-dreadful

noun

1. informal,  a cheap, often lurid or sensational book or magazine

Word History and Origins

Origin of penny-dreadful¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

That a penny dreadful character originally meant just to shock and sicken becomes instead a pitiable victim is a testament to the power of music to make bad guys, if not good, compelling.

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By focusing solely on Yakov’s death yet hinting at the disappearances of other boys, he had left the article open-ended like a penny dreadful.

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“It is Grand Guignol, it is penny dreadful.”

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Casey links the newspaper era that parallels the rise of the penny dreadful with the gestation of the 19th century idea of "new journalism."

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Travelers to the village were rare, but occasionally a peddler would come through the village, selling "penny dreadful" accounts of grisly murders, fateful encounters, dire doings and remarkable escapes.

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