dramatic unities

plural noun

1. the three unities of time, place, and action observed in classical drama as specified by Aristotle in his Poetics.

Word History and Origins

Origin of dramatic unities¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

The broader notion that life and theater resemble one another is by no means just a twentieth- or twenty-first century one; it can be traced back to the dramatic unities of Aristotle and Shakespeare.

From Salon

“People don’t give that up. Now, science has done remarkable things – from the outset, I wanted my vampires to obey the laws of biology, physics and the dramatic unities of space, time and action – but that is not all there is in the world.”

From The Guardian

Playwrights polished up his rusty parts for performance, pruning his unruly plots to fit a French-fuelled demand for dramatic unities, tweaking his politics to suit an age wary of further unrest, recasting his roles to accommodate newly licensed female actors, and rewriting the rough bits that violated neoclassical decorum.

From The New Yorker

If anything, Wales capped the lot by flamboyantly fulfilling the dramatic unities with even more resplendent brio with the breathtaking solo try by Scott Gibbs.

From The Guardian

The "aet" bit, didn't it, tied up the dramatic unities with a voluptuous curtain-call?

From The Guardian