playwright
Americannoun
-
playwrights
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of playwright
Explanation
A playwright is someone who writes plays. Playwrights are also known as dramatists. Just as a poet writes poems, a playwright writes plays. If the spelling of playwright looks odd, that's because wright is a word for a craftsperson or someone who builds things (like a shipwright builds ships). Given the juggling of characters, scenes, and plots in a play, you can see how writing a play is like building something. The most famous playwright ever in English is William Shakespeare.
Vocabulary lists containing playwright
TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Reading: Literature - Drama - Introductory
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Shakespeare
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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.
See Examples For:
US composer Sondheim and playwright James Lapine created the original musical, which debuted on Broadway in 1984.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
It is an adaptation of a play by British playwright James Graham, which ran in the West End and Broadway between 2017 and 2019.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
A playwright friend emailed him when the production was announced with a simple message: “Bart, lighten up!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Theatre director, playwright and actor Peter Gill, who has died aged 86, has been described as a "gentle man with a fierce intelligence" who had a "quietly seismic" influence on British theatre.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
The playwright Tony Kushner has described the attraction of gay men to the theater, and their influence on it, in one word: fabulousness.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
There’s a comic trope beloved by playwrights, novelists and screenwriters about the fighters all suited up for battle, only to discover that their adversary refuses to play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Soon after, wannabe authoritarians attack the comedians, essayists, playwrights and poets.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
The current generation of playwrights has revealed itself to be remarkably resilient and independent.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Lucy Kirkwood, Penelope Skinner, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti are also among more than 70 UK-based playwrights taking part.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Poets, philosophers and playwrights gushed and paid homage to him, including T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, whose sinister Dorian Gray was an early Wagnerite.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
