dramatis-personae
ə noun
1.
( used with a plural verb ) the characters in a play.
2.
( used with a singular verb ) a list of the characters preceding the text of a play.
Origin:
1720–30; < Latin: characters of the play
1720–30; < Latin: characters of the play
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To dramatis-personae
Collins
World English Dictionary
dramatis personae (ˈdrɑːmətɪs pəˈsəʊnaɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —pl n | |
| 1. | the characters or a list of characters in a play or story |
| 2. | the main personalities in any situation or event |
| [C18: from New Latin] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Dramatis-personae
is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
dramatis personae
Latin for "persons of a drama."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
dramatis personae [(dram-uh-tis puhr-soh-nee, drah-muh-tis puhr-soh-neye)]A Latin expression for “cast of characters.” It means literally “the persons of the drama” and is occasionally used at the beginning of scripts for plays as the title of the list of characters.
Note: In general, the “dramatis personae” are the participants in an event: “Winston Churchill, Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin were the dramatis personae at the Yalta Conference.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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