interior monologue

noun

: a usually extended representation in monologue of a fictional character's thought and feeling

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web The shiba inu is sometimes overlaid with ironic interior monologues in comic sans font, as the website KnowYourMeme points out, or photoshopped to take on different forms, such as a loaf of bread. Julian Mark, BostonGlobe.com, 4 Apr. 2023 Most of the stories touch on the struggle between Mussolini’s Black Shirts and the Communist opposition; Fascist deaths are related with relish, whereas a terrible empathy infuses the panicked interior monologue of a boy bearing a letter across a pass riddled with explosive devices. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 19 June 2021 Joe's obsessive, homicidal thoughts have been chronicled on screens since 2018, with Penn Badgley voicing the interior monologue of the identity-shifting, serial-killing stalker when the show first premiered on Lifetime then moved to Netflix in December 2019. Lanford Beard, Peoplemag, 11 Nov. 2022 The rapping became interior monologue. The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2021 But drama is all about dramatic action, which is hard to reveal with somebody’s interior monologue. Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Sep. 2022 Both are composed of autobiographical observations presented as if in transcription of an interior monologue. David L. Ulin, WSJ, 19 Aug. 2022 In pages-long, often dialogue-heavy sections without paragraph breaks, quotation marks or full stops, Petterson shares his character’s interior monologue. Nina Renata Aron, Los Angeles Times, 2 Feb. 2022 There’s no interior monologue in the film, so that struggle isn’t quite so legible in the movie. Jo Livingstone, The New Republic, 7 Jan. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'interior monologue.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of interior monologue was in 1922

Dictionary Entries Near interior monologue

Cite this Entry

“Interior monologue.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interior%20monologue. Accessed 1 Jun. 2023.

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