Word of the Day Archive
Monday June 4, 2012
histrionics \his-tree-ON-iks\
, noun:
1. Behavior or speech for effect, as insincere or exaggerated expression of an emotion.
2. Dramatic representation; theatricals; acting.
You are constantly talking about Beate's histrionics, her showing off.
-- Alberto Moravia, 1934
Of course it is not only southern writers, of lyrical bent, who engage in such histrionics and shout, "Look at me!" Perhaps it is a parable of all artists.
-- Tennessee Williams, New Selected Essays
Though it sounds like the word history, histrionics has a different root. It comes from the Etruscan root histriōn- which meant "actor".
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for histrionics
