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stage direction

See more synonyms for stage direction on Thesaurus.com
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.
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Origin of stage direction

First recorded in 1780–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stage direction

Historical Examples

  • In the stage-direction the last four words are omitted Remorse.

    The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

    Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  • The stage-direction says, 'shaken with horror:' no wonder that he shook!

  • At l. 50 the stage-direction was "Exit Sergestus with Ascanius."

  • I had said all I had to say, and it seemed to me that about here the stage-direction "exit" was written in my part.

    My Man Jeeves

    P. G. Wodehouse

  • The 1st quarto has here the stage-direction: "They whisper in his eare;" that is, whisper the reason of their departure.

British Dictionary definitions for stage direction

stage direction

noun theatre
  1. an instruction to an actor or director, written into the script of a play
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
stage direction in Culture

stage direction

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.

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.