histrionic
Syllables: his·tri·on·icUK/hɪstɹiːˈɒnɪk/US/ˌhɪs.triˈɑ.nɪk/
histrionic adjective: of or relating to actors or acting.
Adjective
histrionic (comparative more histrionic, superlative most histrionic)
- Of or relating to actors or acting.
- After three years of constant applause, Miss [Elizabeth] O'Neill directed her steps towards the summit of histrionick exertion, being engaged for the season of 1814 at Covent Garden, where she made her first entrée as Juliet, on the 6th of October, being at once recognised as the first Hibernian...1816 July, “Miss O’Neill. [From an English magazine.]”, in The North American Review and Miscellaneous Journal, volume III, number VIII, Boston, Mass.: Wells and Lilly […], →OCLC, page 164
- 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.1823 June 14, “The Drama, etc.”, in The Literary Gazette; and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 334, London: Printed by B. Bensley, […]; published for the proprietors, at the...
- Synonyms:
- actorish, actressy, dramatic, theatrical
- Excessively dramatic or emotional, especially with the intention to draw attention.
- [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.1785, William Cowper, “Book II. The Time-piece.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 74
- [T]he mode and the expression of honour to literature in France has continued to this hour tainted with false and histrionic feeling, because originally it grew up from spurious roots, prospered unnaturally upon deep abuses in the system, and at this day (so far as it still lingers) memorialises...1848 May–August, [Thomas De Quincey], “Art VI.—The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith. A Biography. In Four Books. By John Forster. London, 1848. [book review]”, in The North British Review...
- Synonyms:
- hammy, melodramatic, overdramatic, sensationalized, stagy
- Antonyms:
- undramatic, understated, stoic
histrionic meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
histrionic in Tamil
- நடிகர் அல்லது நடிப்பு சம்பந்தப்பட்ட, நாடகத்தனமான, செயற்கையான, நடிகர்
histrionic in Bengali
- নাটকীয়, অতিশয় ভাবপ্রবণ, কৃত্রিম নাটকীয়তা সম্পন্ন
histrionic in Malayalam
- dramatic, melodramatic, theatrical
- നാടകീയ, അമിതമായി വികാരം പ്രകടിപ്പിക്കുന്ന, സ്തോഭജനകം, അതിനാടകീയം, അതിഭാവുകത്വപരം, അതിഭാവുകത്വംനിറഞ്ഞ
histrionic in Kannada
- ಅಭಿನಯದ ಯಾ ಅಭಿನಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ, ಕೃತಕ, ನಾಟಕೀಯ, ಅಸ್ವಾಭಾವಿಕ, ಸೋಗಿನ, ಕಪಟದ
Examples of histrionic in a sentence
- There was something more histrionic about it.1990, Robert Conquest, “The Foreign Element”, in The Great Terror: A Reassessment, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN; 40th...
- She, in turn, becomes more histrionic, and as she projects her emotional dirty part into him, he becomes more anal and compulsive.2008, Joan Lachkar, “The Obsessive-Compulsive Narcissist”, in How to Talk to a Narcissist, New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge...
- A vicious circle may form in which the more rejected they feel the more histrionic they become, and the more histrionic they become the more rejected they feel.2010, Neel Burton, “Personality Disorders”, in Psychiatry, 2nd edition, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, part 2, page 138...
Synonyms of histrionic
Antonyms
Forms of histrionic
| comparative | more histrionic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most histrionic |
| alternative form (obsolete) | histrionick |
Origin of histrionic
Borrowed from Late Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting; scurrilous, shameful; wretched”), from Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting and the theatre”), from histriō (“actor, player”) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). By surface analysis, histrion + -ic.
Words formed from histrionic
Phrases with histrionic
Words that rhyme with histrionic
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- demonic
- ionic
- laconic
- masonic
- mnemonic
- monic
- monophonic
- monotonic
- pythonic
- Teutonic
- catatonic
- colonic
- homophonic
- infrasonic
- moronic
- planktonic
- platonic
- polytonic
- sardonic
- Slavonic
- sonic
- supersonic
- syntonic
- ambisonic
- anionic
- aplatonic
- apophonic
- arachidonic
- autochthonic
- avionic
- bacterioplanktonic
- Bonnick
- bosonic
- breviconic
- bubonic
- Byronic
- carbonic
- chthonic
- clonic
- conic
- cryonic
- Decameronic
- diatonic
- eugonic
- euphonic
- eutonic
- glyconic
- hadronic
Questions about histrionic
- What does histrionic mean?
- Histrionic means of or relating to actors or acting.
- What is histrionic in Tamil?
- Histrionic in Tamil is நடிகர் அல்லது நடிப்பு சம்பந்தப்பட்ட, நாடகத்தனமான, செயற்கையான. See Histrionic meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use histrionic in a sentence?
- There was something more histrionic about it.
- What part of speech is histrionic?
- Histrionic is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce histrionic?
- Histrionic is pronounced /hɪstɹiːˈɒnɪk/ (UK).
Words near histrionic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: histrionic (page history and authors); histrionic (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Histrionic (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); histrionic (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); histrionic (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-histrionic.ogg.
Cite this entry: “histrionic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/histrionic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.