dramatist
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dramatist
Explanation
A dramatist, or playwright, is a person who writes plays. Tennessee Williams, who wrote "The Glass Menagerie," is an example of a famous American dramatist. Using the noun dramatist is actually a pretty dramatic way to refer to a playwright. Its root is the word drama, which comes from a Greek word meaning "to do." So a dramatist is a writer whose works are full of action: stage directions, movement, and lines meant to be spoken by stage actors. If you scramble the letters of the word dramatist, you end up with "amidst art."
Vocabulary lists containing dramatist
Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
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Reading: Literature - High School
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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.
Lenkiewicz previously wrote the 2022 film She Said about the investigation into Harvey Weinstein, and was the first female dramatist to have an original play on the main stage of the National Theatre in 2008.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Most of which would have been beyond the ken of the most daring 19th-century Scandinavian dramatist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
Author of “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play,” Bioh thrives as a dramatist of enclosed worlds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
“Ricky becomes a part of them,” notes the dramatist, who purposefully creates roles that showcase the athleticism of acting.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
Aunt Kitty was no dramatist, so when she got worked up, I knew I should be on guard.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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.
