How to Use dramatis personae in a Sentence

dramatis personae

plural noun
Definition of dramatis personaenext
Synonyms for dramatis personaenext
  • The back of each zine includes an index with the species’ names, like a dramatis personae.
    — Ligaya Mishan, New York Times, 18 Sep. 2020
  • But can't the dramatis personae at least try to conceal themselves in the hide-and-seek garden scene?
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 18 June 2019
  • Thrilling though the dramatis personae may have been, the protagonist came to a sad end.
    — Peter Nicholas, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2019
  • Zeller is not the first director to jumble his dramatis personae, and to maintain a cool composure in the process.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Despite Melle’s deep cuts — including to the dramatis personae — the plot is left pretty intact.
    — New York Times, 13 Feb. 2020
  • What the evening lacked was theatrical electricity from, and among, the dramatis personae.
    — Dallas News, 10 Oct. 2022
  • Readers could be assumed to know much of the background and the dramatis personae already; no need to spend much time introducing Tony Fauci.
    — Joshua Sokol, The Atlantic, 21 Nov. 2022
  • The dramatis personae of the novel are listed at the start, with shorthand descriptions normally reserved for plays.
    — Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2022
  • The book opens with a dramatis personae of sorts — a list of 10 millennials who have had early political success, all of whom Alter has interviewed.
    — Danielle Kurtzleben, Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2020
  • The dramatis personae look in different directions, nursing their own thoughts.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 21 Apr. 2021
  • Even as conspiracy theories play at spider-web vastness, their dramatis personae are as compact as a tag-team match.
    — Robin Sloan, The Atlantic, 14 May 2020
  • The exhibition’s opening room features a wall full of reproduced portraits introducing the dramatis personae in the Nabi artworks, enabling viewers to keep track of who’s in love with whom, and who’s having a bad day.
    — Steven Litt, cleveland, 4 July 2021
  • Lined up in tubs were the dramatis personae: gerbera daisies, alstroemerias, leucadendrons, thistles, bear grass, sweet william.
    — Michael Schulma, The New Yorker, 31 July 2021
  • Neither her laugh nor her dramatis personae are merely for entertainment, though.
    — New York Times, 6 Apr. 2022
  • Wulf and her publishers have gone several extra miles to help the reader keep them all straight: informative chapter titles, a careful index, and a dramatis personae with minibiographies.
    — Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2022
  • Speaking of which, Walton even put together a commemorative playlist, the range of which mirrors the amiable mutability of her dramatis personae.
    — Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 14 Apr. 2022
  • The chapters on the quantitative revolution in professional sports scouting and gambling are more lively, with more loving attention to the dramatis personae.
    — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 26 Nov. 2012
  • The dramatis personae of this investigation are thus numerous, high-profile, monied and multi-national.
    — Nick Hewlett, The New Republic, 27 Mar. 2018
  • In segments written by Tom Abernathy, Natasha serves as host, introducing situations and dramatis personae, and interacting with the audience.
    — New York Times, 31 May 2021
  • Its title gives away little, but the accompanying list of dramatis personae provides several hints, including characters named Seward, Lucy, Harker, and van Helsing.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Nov. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dramatis personae.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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