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Literature vocabulary · Drama and Theatre

Comedy of manners

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In literature, comedy of manners means: Comedy satirizing the manners, speech and social rules of a particular group.

In Turkish: töre komedisi

How it is used

Use when wit and social conventions drive the comedy, especially around status, marriage and reputation.

Example sentences

  1. The comedy of manners turns a misplaced dinner invitation into a crisis of social rank.

    The joke depends on the group's rules about who belongs.

  2. Our analysis of the comedy of manners focuses on compliments that conceal insults.

    Polite language becomes a tool for rivalry within the social group.

Common collocations

  • write a comedy of manners
  • Restoration comedy of manners
  • comedyA play or story meant to amuse, usually built on misunderstandings and humor and ending happily, often with reunions or marriages.
  • satireWriting that uses humor, irony and exaggeration to criticize or mock the foolishness or wrongdoing of people, institutions or society.

More terms: Drama and Theatre

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