THEATRICAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does theatrical mean? 

• THEATRICAL (noun)
  The noun THEATRICAL has 1 sense:

1. a performance of a play

  Familiarity information: THEATRICAL used as a noun is very rare.

• THEATRICAL (adjective)
  The adjective THEATRICAL has 2 senses:

1. of or relating to the theater

2. suited to or characteristic of the stage or theater

  Familiarity information: THEATRICAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THEATRICAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A performance of a play

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

histrionics; representation; theatrical; theatrical performance

Hypernyms ("theatrical" is a kind of...):

performance; public presentation (a dramatic or musical entertainment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "theatrical"):

matinee (a theatrical performance held during the daytime (especially in the afternoon))

Derivation:

theatrical (suited to or characteristic of the stage or theater)

• THEATRICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to the theater

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

theater (the art of writing and producing plays)

Derivation:

theater (the art of writing and producing plays)

theatricality (an artificial and mannered quality)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Suited to or characteristic of the stage or theater

Context example:

one of the most theatrical figures in public life

Similar:

histrionic; melodramatic (characteristic of acting or a stage performance; often affected)

showy (displaying brilliance and virtuosity)

stagey; stagy (having characteristics of the stage especially an artificial and mannered quality)

Antonym:

untheatrical (not suited to or characteristic of the stage or theater)

Derivation:

theater (the art of writing and producing plays)

theatrical (a performance of a play)

theatricality (an artificial and mannered quality)

 Context examples 

The geniality, as was the way of the man, was somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed on genuine feeling.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You may be ready to debut your screenplay or theatrical play to an audience.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

A disorder characterized by an enduring pattern of excessively intense and superficial emotionality, attention seeking behavior, seductive appearance and speech, self dramatization and/or theatrical behavior.

(Histrionic Personality Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

By a look at her brother she prevented any farther entreaty from the theatrical board, and the really good feelings by which she was almost purely governed were rapidly restoring her to all the little she had lost in Edmund's favour.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Come, come, my dear lady, said he, you speak vastly beyond my merits; upon which encouragement she started again in a theatrical apostrophe to Britain’s darling and Neptune’s eldest son, which he endured with the same signs of gratitude and pleasure.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The storm through Baron Wildenheim was the height of his theatrical ambition; and with the advantage of knowing half the scenes by heart already, he did now, with the greatest alacrity, offer his services for the part.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If you are working on a highly artistic assignment, such as one involving music, choreography, painting, theatrical set design, a film or TV show, costume or fashion design, window display, package design, or another artistic expression, you will be at your best, not only due to Mars’ position but also thanks to Neptune’s turn direct.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He came on the wings of disappointment, and with his head full of acting, for it had been a theatrical party; and the play in which he had borne a part was within two days of representation, when the sudden death of one of the nearest connexions of the family had destroyed the scheme and dispersed the performers.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Neptune is currently in your communication sector, so if you have been working on a creative project that involves writing an imaginative novel or screenplay, composing music, or directing your talents to costume design, dance, painting, theatrical lighting, or any of the creative arts, you will find your ideas start to tumble forth like diamonds falling from the tip top of your head, straight onto the papers you are working on.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)