photoplay

[ foh-tuh-pley ]

noun

1. a motion-picture scenario; screenplay.

Other Words From

• photo·player noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of photoplay¹

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; photo- + play

Example Sentences

Styled as a retro, black-and-white photoplay with intertitles, sound effects, cranked-up speeds and jaunty music, “Hundreds of Beavers” ostensibly tells a story, but only insofar as a magician does, to simply contextualize your enjoyment of the tricks.

From Los Angeles Times

In 1918, an essay in the film fan magazine Photoplay criticized the older arts as elitist, but noted that when the moving picture arrived “democracy clasped it to its heart” — this was, the writer proclaimed, “the first art-child of democracy.”

From New York Times

Then called the U-Neptune, it was described as “Seattle’s newest photoplay palace and the finest suburban motion picture theater in this part of the country.”

From Seattle Times

Pitting Bernie Sanders against a cultural juggernaut like the Mayflower Photoplay Company of Boston, Massachusetts is a surefire way to convince young voters to stay home and hand the election to Donald Trump.

From Slate

As the movie industry blossomed, in the nineteen-tens and twenties, so did fan magazines, such as Photoplay.

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• cinema
• feature
• film
• flick
• motion picture
• picture
• show
• videotape