play-actorismn.
/ˈpleɪaktərɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈpleɪˌæktəˌrɪz(ə)m/ Now rare.
Action or behaviour characteristic of an actor; theatrical or affected style or performance.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > theatrical or exaggerated behaviour
histrionicism1665
histrionisma1682
theatricalness1727
theatricality1837
play-actorism1851
theatricalism1854
performance1864
melodramatics1865
theatricism1872
camping1922
histrionics1922
theatric1929
amateur dramatics1984
1851 T. Carlyle Life J. Sterling ii. vii. 231 Sterling's view of the Pope..doing his big playactorism under God's earnest sky.
a1871 T. Carlyle Reminisc. (1881) II. 187 Our main revenue three or four (?) years now was lectures;..Detestable mixture of prophecy and play-actorism.
1904 Newark (Ohio) Advocate 29 July 7/5 There is a great deal of talent in him, a great deal of sensibility, vanity without limit—and nothing or little but sentimentalism and play-actorism to guide it all with.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1851