fourth wall
noun
: an imaginary wall (as at the opening of a modern stage proscenium) that keeps performers from recognizing or directly addressing their audience
Examples of fourth wall in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The play continually broke the fourth wall by inviting the audience to participate in these uncomfortable exchanges, including the bidding, and consider how their own racial bias might stem from such founding violence.
—
Salamishah Tillet, New York Times, 10 May 2024
Especially useful are first-person monologues that break the fourth wall.
—Christopher Smith, Orange County Register, 30 Apr. 2024
Sandoval also broke the fourth wall even further when reacting to how hot the spotlight was on the Bravo series amid real-world news.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
The show is made all the more fun because characters occasionally break the fourth wall and talk directly to viewers.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 15 Apr. 2024
The nicest thing about doing a show like this is there is no fourth wall.
—Daniel Scheffler, SPIN, 1 Apr. 2024
In his first show back, Stewart broke the fourth wall by asking the camera operator to move closer and closer to stare at his face again.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2024
The three-level home comes surrounded by abundant mango trees, comes with four bedrooms for up to eight guests, and has a fourth wall in the living room that opens to an expansive infinity pool overlooking the ocean.
—Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 24 Jan. 2024
The cat shatters the fourth wall, as cats will; Sol receives a goldfish named Nugget, which doesn’t bode well; a shy scorpion scurries into a crack; and the end credits are punctuated by drawings of various creatures.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2024
Salamishah Tillet, New York Times, 10 May 2024
Especially useful are first-person monologues that break the fourth wall.
—Christopher Smith, Orange County Register, 30 Apr. 2024
Sandoval also broke the fourth wall even further when reacting to how hot the spotlight was on the Bravo series amid real-world news.
—Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
The show is made all the more fun because characters occasionally break the fourth wall and talk directly to viewers.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 15 Apr. 2024
The nicest thing about doing a show like this is there is no fourth wall.
—Daniel Scheffler, SPIN, 1 Apr. 2024
In his first show back, Stewart broke the fourth wall by asking the camera operator to move closer and closer to stare at his face again.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2024
The three-level home comes surrounded by abundant mango trees, comes with four bedrooms for up to eight guests, and has a fourth wall in the living room that opens to an expansive infinity pool overlooking the ocean.
—Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 24 Jan. 2024
The cat shatters the fourth wall, as cats will; Sol receives a goldfish named Nugget, which doesn’t bode well; a shy scorpion scurries into a crack; and the end credits are punctuated by drawings of various creatures.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fourth wall.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near fourth wall
Cite this Entry
“Fourth wall.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fourth%20wall. Accessed 18 May. 2024.
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