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View synonyms for penny dreadful

penny dreadful

noun

, Chiefly British.
, plural penny dreadfuls.
  1. a cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime, or violence; dime novel.


penny-dreadful

noun

  1. informal.
    a cheap, often lurid or sensational book or magazine
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of penny dreadful1

First recorded in 1870–75
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Example Sentences

It is the rare as-told-to book, or one created in collaboration with an author-for-hire, that is well-written, but “A Piece of Light” is filled with a superfluity of penny-dreadful prose.

Which can make the penny-dreadful plot even more giggle-icious.

“Tics” isn’t as satisfying as the evening’s penny-dreadful playlets, “The Lighthouse Keepers” and “The Final Kiss,” which are fun because they are so single-mindedly sensationalistic.

Instead, she praised it backhandedly as “a shallow masterpiece” that is “overwrought” with “obvious penny-dreadful popular theatrics.”

From Slate

Violent, sex-soaked dime novels and penny-dreadful magazines were immensely popular, and upstanding publications such as Harper's and the Atlantic Monthly took delight in denouncing them.

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