potboiler
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of potboiler
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.
And there's a cheeky riposte to their critics on the jazzy potboiler They Don't Know 'Bout Us: "You say we changed? We feel the same."
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2026
William Golding wrote his tale partially in response to “The Coral Island,” a Victorian-era potboiler about three boys who survive a shipwreck thanks to their bluff resourcefulness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026
“Fox” has the bones of a potboiler but is supported by the sinew of the author’s elegant structure and syntax.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2025
In that potboiler, a film he later disavowed as too tame, he was publicized as the first Black matinee idol for mainstream audiences.
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2023
Fanny's First Play, being but a potboiler, needs no preface.
From Fanny's First Play by Shaw, Bernard
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.
