Word.ws English Dictionary

histrionical

histrionical is the alternative form of histrionic.

Meaning of histrionic

Adjective

histrionic (comparative more histrionic, superlative most histrionic)

  1. 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
  2. (broadly) 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

Forms of histrionical

comparativemore histrionical
superlativemost histrionical

Questions about histrionical

What is histrionical the alternative form of?
Histrionical is the alternative form of histrionic.

Words near histrionical in the dictionary

  1. histrion
  2. histrionic
  3. histrionic personality disorder
  4. histrionic personality disordered
  5. histrionic personality disorders
  6. histrionical
  7. histrionically
  8. histrionicism
  9. histrionicity
  10. histrionick
  11. histrionicotoxin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: histrionical (page history and authors); histrionic (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.

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Cite this entry: “histrionical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/histrionical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.