variants or stagey

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of stagy And even though there are stretches of stagey-sounding expository dialogue, the story manages to wheel along at a clip. Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 12 Sep. 2025 The Fence suffers from dialogue overload and a somewhat stagy mise-en-scène, although those elements occasionally yield strong sequences fraught with unsettledness, if not outright hostility, when the drama finally boils over. Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2025 Some reservations: Song plays out the scenes between Lucy and Harry, and between Lucy and John, as two-way dialogues that are often stagy and too on-the-nose. Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 12 June 2025 His Cabinet gathered in the Rose Garden alongside supporters wearing hard hats and reflective vests—a stagy reference to all the manufacturing jobs that would presumably be flooding back to U.S. soil. Antonia Hitchens, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025 Ferrell just isn’t right for this part: The role is too stagy, too wordy for him, and his style of comedy is just too modern and deconstructionist to handle the Borscht Belt punning of Mel Brooks. Tim Grierson, Vulture, 4 Feb. 2025 Here was elegance without exaggeration, tension and beauty without stagy excess. James Shapiro, The New York Review of Books, 3 Jan. 2025 This framing device, which has the clunky air of a middlebrow play, provides a convenient if stagy way of breaking down his biography into manageable parts. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2024 Advertisement Gwen Grastorf’s embodiment of the scheming goody-goody Arsinoë is a tad stagy, but the character is still a fine foil for the quick-witted Célimène. Celia Wren, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stagy
Adjective
  • Last Days premiered at Sundance in January, and Vertical acquired North American rights during the summer, setting for exclusive theatrical release on October 24.
    Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2025
  • All agreements include theatrical releases.
    Leo Barraclough, Variety, 2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • During the past decade, Tranter has established himself as one of the music industry’s most reliable hitmakers, thanks to his clever, boisterous lyricism and dramatic, over-the-top choruses and hooks.
    Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 1 Oct. 2025
  • While an Oscar nomination for Jay Kelly would mark Sandler's first, the actor, known more for his comedic roles, previously flexed some of his dramatic chops in films like Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Reign Over Me (2007) and Uncut Gems (2019).
    Jen Juneau, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • This musical blends gospel and Motown with operatic stylings to illuminate the changing times of the Civil Rights era while examining social and familial issues still prevalent today.
    Meredith G. White, AZCentral.com, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Chabon’s novel, about two Jewish cousins who create a fantastically successful comic-book superhero named the Escapist, should make fine operatic material.
    Justin Davidson, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • DiCaprio would rinse and repeat this movie’s grandly melodramatic approach a year later for a little film about two crazy kids on an ocean liner.
    Tim Grierson, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2025
  • This completely off-the-rails offering heralded what has become something of a Perry specialty: a melodramatic thriller that goes off the rails but keeps a straight face.
    Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Stagy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stagy. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.

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