Word.ws English Dictionary

thespian

/ˈθɛspi.ən/US/ˈθɛzbi.ən/

thespian adjective: of, or relating to drama and acting; dramatic, theatrical.

Adjective (1)

thespian (comparative more thespian, superlative most thespian)

  1. Of, or relating to drama and acting; dramatic, theatrical.

Noun (1)

thespian (plural thespians)

  1. An actor or player.

Noun (2) capitalized: Thespian

Thespian (plural Thespians)

  1. A person from the ancient Greek city of Thespiae.
  2. Alternative letter-case form of thespian.
    • In his way Carlyle was as much of a Thespian as Garrick or Kemble, Booth or Jeferson.1903, Adrian H[offman] Joline, The Diversions of a Book-Lover, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, page 170
    • Now, I don’t think you’ve met Melissa Wayne, a fellow Thespian.1990, Pat Booth, Malibu, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, page 156

Adjective (2) capitalized: Thespian

Thespian (comparative more Thespian, superlative most Thespian)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of thespian.
    • Went to that magnificent Temple of Thalia, the New Olympic, and saw the bewitchingest Pauline, in the person of Winifred Emery, that ever I saw in the shammiest, stagiest, tawdriest, tinsellest, transparentest, most diaphanously theatrical comedy I ever saw in the absolute period of my Thespian...1890 December 24, “Judy’s Diary”, in Judy: The London Serio-comic Journal, volume 46, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 306, column 2
    • He stopped, and smiled, his blond hair, male-model good looks, and his ponytail giving away his Thespian dreams.1990, Pat Booth, Malibu, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 113

Forms of thespian

Adjective
comparativemore thespian
superlativemost thespian
alternative formThespian
comparativemore Thespian
superlativemost Thespian
Noun
pluralthespians
pluralThespians

Origin of thespian

From Latin Thespis, from the name of the Ancient Greek actor Thespis (fl. 6th century BCE), from Θέσπις (Théspis) + -ian.

Words formed from thespian

Questions about thespian

What does thespian mean?
Thespian means of, or relating to drama and acting; dramatic, theatrical.
What part of speech is thespian?
Thespian can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce thespian?
Thespian is pronounced /ˈθɛspi.ən/.

Words near thespian in the dictionary

  1. Thesmophoric
  2. thesmothete
  3. thesmothetes
  4. thesp
  5. thesped
  6. thespian
  7. thespianic
  8. thespianism
  9. thespianisms
  10. thespians
  11. thespically

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thespian (page history and authors); Thespian (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-thespian.wav.

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