variants
or stagey
1
as in theatrical
given to or marked by attention-getting behavior suggestive of stage acting
a motivational speaker whose stagy presentations motivate some listeners to head for the nearest exit
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in dramatic
having the general quality or effect of a stage performance
the president's and the prime minister's public display of mutual admiration was a little too stagy to be convincing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of stagy
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
The fact that the film was made inexpensively, though not a vice in and of itself, is not especially compensated for by Joe Collins’ cinematography, which renders Heffernan’s compositions flat, stagy and small.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 17 Apr. 2023
The stagy devices give the impression of notions that may have seemed like brainstorms in rehearsal but in performance feel overly artificial.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2023
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
The fact that the film was made inexpensively, though not a vice in and of itself, is not especially compensated for by Joe Collins’ cinematography, which renders Heffernan’s compositions flat, stagy and small.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 17 Apr. 2023
The stagy devices give the impression of notions that may have seemed like brainstorms in rehearsal but in performance feel overly artificial.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stagy
Adjective
-
How to Train Your Dragon will likely arrive on Peacock around three to four months after its theatrical premiere in June 2025, putting the release date around September or October 2025.—
Monica Mercuri,
Forbes.com,
15 July 2025
-
But theatrical Leo parents may need reminding that rules and structure are essential in parenting too, says Brown.—
Kara Nesvig,
Parents,
15 July 2025
Adjective
-
The past five years have been among the most dramatic: SXSW closed down during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic and did not reopen in person — on a much smaller scale — until 2022.—
Michael Barnes,
Austin American Statesman,
23 July 2025
-
That story was at the center of dramatic portrayals in an HBO Max docuseries, which accused Remnant of being a cult, and a Lifetime movie.—
Liam Adams,
The Tennessean,
22 July 2025
Adjective
-
But the mere threat of a lawsuit opened a new chapter in the operatic relationship between Trump and Murdoch, the 93-year-old patriarch who controls the Journal, Fox News and other conservative media brands.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
17 July 2025
-
The lead performances from Shibasaki and Ayano are riveting and powerfully operatic.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
19 June 2025
Adjective
-
Early in 2008, when Clinton briefly welled up in a coffee shop after a bruising loss in the Iowa caucus, the moment was interpreted as being a melodramatic scandal fit for TMZ and a cynical ploy for attention that eventually won her New Hampshire.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
15 Apr. 2025
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The war stories in particular, despite being well-acted, are an unnecessary melodramatic distraction.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
25 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stagy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stagy. Accessed 26 Jul. 2025.
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