Histrionic

Quick meaning: Histrionic is an adjective meaning Of or relating to actors or acting.

Meaning

Of or relating to actors or acting.

More Meanings

1. (by extension) Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the intention to draw attention.

Example Sentences

[F]oppiſh airs / And hiſtrionic mumm'ry, that let down / The pulpit to the level of the ſtage, / Drops from the lips a diſregarded thing.

On Saturday, Miss F. H. Kelly played Belvidera for the first time, to a crowded House, and for her own benefit;—for her own benefit in every way, for the performance added a wreath to her histrionic laurels, and drew down the warmest testimonies of applause.

[Leon] Trotsky's vanity, unlike [Joseph] Stalin's, was, practically speaking, frivolous. There was something more histrionic about it. He had shown himself no less ruthless than Stalin. Indeed, at the time of the Civil War, he had ordered executions on a greater scale than Stalin or anyone else.

[…] Judah and Jacob-Israel are not simple eponymic counters in an etiological tale […] but are individual characters surrounded by multiple ironies, artfully etched in their imperfections as well as in their strengths. A historionic Jacob blinded by excessive love and perhaps loving the excess […]

Word Forms

• histrionick

Synonyms for histrionic

Depending on context, synonyms include actorish, actressy, dramatic, theatrical, hammy, melodramatic.

Antonyms for histrionic

Common opposites include undramatic, understated, stoic.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include theatrical, melodramatic, histrionical, histrionick, actorish, actorial.

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