penny dreadful
Definition
Noun: 1. A cheap, sensational novel of low literary quality: A "penny dreadful" is a type of inexpensive, mass-produced publication, popular in 19th-century Britain, featuring melodramatic and often violent or thrilling stories aimed at a working-class audience.
Usage and Examples
- Noun:
- In Victorian England, many young readers were captivated by the exciting tales found in a penny dreadful.
- The story was so over-the-top and poorly written that the critic dismissed it as a mere penny dreadful.
Advanced Usage
- The term is often used historically to describe the specific genre of 19th-century British fiction.
- In modern usage, "penny dreadful" can be used figuratively as a pejorative term for any contemporary book, film, or show considered to be of similarly low, sensational quality.
- That new horror movie isn't art; it's just a modern penny dreadful.
Variants and Related Words
- Dime novel (noun): The American equivalent of the penny dreadful, referring to cheap, sensational fiction popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Shilling shocker (noun): A similar term used in the 19th century, sometimes implying a slightly higher price point.
Synonyms
- Sensationalist fiction
- Pulp fiction
- Potboiler
Idioms and Phrases
- While not a phrasal verb, the term itself functions as a fixed noun phrase. Its meaning is derived from the combination of "penny" (referring to its low cost) and "dreadful" (referring to its often poor quality or frightening content).
Noun
-
a melodramatic paperback novel
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