theatricals
- 1Exaggerated, dramatic behavior or display, especially put on to attract attention or stir up emotion.
Like a soap-opera scene staged in the middle of an ordinary conversation.
The jury was unmoved by the defendant's tearful theatricals on the stand.
Spare me the theatricals and just tell me what actually happened.
Similarhistrionics, dramatics, theatrics
- 2Plural of theatrical.
The regiment staged amateur theatricals to pass the long winter evenings.
Local theatricals drew a large crowd to the town hall.
Note
One spelling covers several plurals here: staged performances, films made for release in movie theaters, and the people who work in theater. Performances are the most common meaning, usually in the phrase amateur theatricals, and in that meaning the singular is seldom used. The adjective's sense of "fake and exaggerated" lies behind the "histrionics" meaning, where the plural describes behavior rather than a show.
theatricals is a form of theatrical
theatrical, noun: A commercially produced film intended for release in movie theaters. Full entry
- Forms
- theatricaltheatricals plural
- Spelling
- theatrical → theatricals: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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