stage direction

noun

1. an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements.

2. the art or technique of a stage director.

stage direction

noun

1. an instruction to an actor or director, written into the script of a play

stage direction

1. Part of the script of a play that tells the actors how they are to move or to speak their lines. Enter, exit, and exeunt are stage directions.

Word History and Origins

Origin of stage direction¹

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

Today, to gauge a film’s potential, Macy aims to read scripts in one sitting and skips over the stage directions.

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She ushered, worked the box office, read stage directions for new plays — she had days jobs, too, like working at TGI Fridays — “By the way, they just offered me suspenders since I never got them.”

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But that was not without some stage direction.

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Samuel Beckett, a stickler for faithfulness, didn’t share this laissez-faire attitude toward his stage directions, which he expected to be punctiliously observed by others.

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Even like having to write the action lines, because a lot of my plays, there’s no stage directions.

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