comedy of manners

noun

1. a comedy satirizing the manners and customs of a social class, especially one dealing with the amorous intrigues of fashionable society.

comedy of manners

noun

1. a comedy dealing with the way of life and foibles of a social group
2. the genre represented by works of this type

Word History and Origins

Origin of comedy of manners¹

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

The central deviation is that this “Speak No Evil,” with its more pronounced humor and catharsis, treats the other film’s scenario as a ghastly comedy of manners rather than as a brutalizing, unheroic descent.

From Los Angeles Times

The squirmy comedy of manners introduced May’s discovery, Charles Grodin, to the world.

From Los Angeles Times

"The comedy of manners plays with the mores of civilization; it can lose its charm when civilisation succumbs to barbarity. In life, as in comedy, timing is essential."

From BBC

“Mr. Lee is after something more broadly accessible, a sparkling, colorful and utterly contemporary comedy of manners,” Janet Maslin wrote in her review for The New York Times.

From New York Times

It's a comedy of manners which takes off after an affair is exposed during a decadent tropical wedding.

From BBC