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
The auteur can now cross another genre off his bucket list with The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kokurojo), a stately and rather stagy historical mystery set during the 16th century, at a time when warring clans fought and outmaneuvered each other for control of the land.
—
Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 24 May 2026
Some of his jabs seemed a bit forced and stagy.
—Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2026
Sure, there’s something stagy in summing up Hart’s life via an increasingly drunken evening celebrating the premiere of his former creative partner Richard Rodgers’s (Andrew Scott) musical Oklahoma!, which will go on to be hugely successful and beloved, but which Hart can’t stand.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
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
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
Here was elegance without exaggeration, tension and beauty without stagy excess.
—James Shapiro, The New York Review of Books, 3 Jan. 2025
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
Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 24 May 2026
Some of his jabs seemed a bit forced and stagy.
—Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2026
Sure, there’s something stagy in summing up Hart’s life via an increasingly drunken evening celebrating the premiere of his former creative partner Richard Rodgers’s (Andrew Scott) musical Oklahoma!, which will go on to be hugely successful and beloved, but which Hart can’t stand.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
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
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
Here was elegance without exaggeration, tension and beauty without stagy excess.
—James Shapiro, The New York Review of Books, 3 Jan. 2025
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
-
That seemed to set up Disney to potentially take a small loss, or struggle to the theatrical break-even point.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
2 June 2026
-
The décor is unapologetically theatrical.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
Adjective
-
The Spurs are coming off a dramatic ousting of the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals in seven games.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
4 June 2026
-
In a dramatic late-night sacking of a network news icon, CBS News has fired veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley.—
Josef Adalian,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
Adjective
-
This 1787 imagining, by architect and designer Felice Soave and Giocondo Albertolli, was the setting for a love affair between Giuditta Cantù Turino, the frescoist Appiano’s great-niece, and Vincenzo Bellini, Italy’s most romantic and melodramatic operatic composer.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
-
The score by Amine Bouhafa and Isabelle Laudenbach — the director’s sister, and also an accomplished flamenco guitarist — deftly interpolates scraps and strains of Bizet’s original compositions, stripped of operatic excess and given a folky lilt.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
31 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stagy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stagy. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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