photoplay

[foh-tuh-pley]

noun

1. a motion-picture scenario; screenplay.

Other Word Forms

• photoplayer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of photoplay¹

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; photo- + play

Example Sentences

After a “Eureka!” moment, Tateh reinvents himself as a filmmaker, now styled as Baron Ashkenazy, who will later befriend Mother—they made a passing acquaintance earlier—with Mr. Uranowitz’s lively performance of one of the musical’s lighter diversions, “Buffalo Nickel Photoplay, Inc.,” providing respite from the increasingly dark narrative.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The popularity Dr Kildare earnt Chamberlaine meant that, for three consecutive years between 1963 and 1965, he was named the most popular male star by Photoplay magazine.

Read more on BBC

Styled as a retro, black-and-white photoplay with intertitles, sound effects, cranked-up speeds and jaunty music, “Hundreds of Beavers” ostensibly tells a story, but only insofar as a magician does, to simply contextualize your enjoyment of the tricks.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In 1918, an essay in the film fan magazine Photoplay criticized the older arts as elitist, but noted that when the moving picture arrived “democracy clasped it to its heart” — this was, the writer proclaimed, “the first art-child of democracy.”

Read more on New York Times

Then called the U-Neptune, it was described as “Seattle’s newest photoplay palace and the finest suburban motion picture theater in this part of the country.”

Read more on Seattle Times

Related Words

• cinema 
• feature 
• film 
• flick 
• motion picture 
• picture 
• show 
• videotape