fourth wall

American  

[fawrth wawl] / ˈfɔrθ ˈwɔl /

noun

1. the imaginary, invisible wall, as across the front of a stage, that separates the world constructed by a play, movie, television show, video game, or literary work from the actual world inhabited by the audience.

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idioms

1. break the fourth wall, to violate the conventional separation between the world of a play, movie, television show, video game, or literary work and the world inhabited by the viewer.

   The actor’s periodic asides to the audience break the fourth wall and elicit much-needed laughs.

Etymology

Origin of fourth wall

First recorded in 1800–10

Example Sentences

It helps that the play’s script allows its actors to break the fourth wall and improvise dialogue that more closely speaks to the audience’s present moment.

From Los Angeles Times

“We have not shied away from breaking the fourth wall,” says “Mormon Wives” showrunner Andrea Metz.

From Los Angeles Times

When she eventually breaks the fourth wall to momentarily make contact with the audience, the timing is unexpected but not at all jarring.

From Los Angeles Times

The other is “Fleabag”: Like Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s acidic reprobate, Ms. Weisz’s character is unconstrained by a fourth wall, sharing with us, reflecting, observing, making wisecracks but not being particularly funny.

From The Wall Street Journal

Weisz remembers doing a Neil LaBute play in the ‘90s in which she broke the fourth wall but had never done so onscreen. The actor says she did have an audience in mind when speaking to the camera, but it would be “reductive” to overexplain it.

From Los Angeles Times