"dramatis personae" meaning in English

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  "etymology_text": "From Latin dramatis personae (literally “characters of the play”).",
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      "form": "dramatis persona",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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              204,
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          "ref": "1945, Robert Frost, A Masque of Reason:",
          "text": "(The Devil enters like a sapphire wasp\nThat flickers mica wings. He lifts a hand\nTo brush away a disrespectful smile.\nJob’s wife sits up.)\nJob’s Wife ➢ Well, if we aren’t all here.\nIncluding me, the only Dramatis\n Personae needed to enact the problem.",
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          "ref": "1963, Sumner Chilton Powell, “Introduction”, in Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town, Wesleyan University Press:",
          "text": "Edward Winslow, in Plymouth, made a revealing statement when he wrote, “We came here to avoid the hierarchy, the holy days, the Book of Common Prayer, etc.” […] There were, depending on the local area, many types of hierarchies in England […] If all this social structure was to be “avoided,” what substitutions did New England town leaders intend in order to provide form, spirit, and leadership to their new idealistic small commonwealths? How successful were any of these town leaders, and how did they measure their successes? Although each early Massachusetts, or New England, town might well provide distinct and fascinating answers, the historian is limited by his documents. Furthermore, he should not attempt to crowd his stage too much, lest the dramatis personae overwhelm his audience. One town, well documented in relation to its specific origins, can serve as a representative study for most early New England towns until further investigation takes place.",
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          "ref": "1981 December 15, Don Lessem, “Paperbacks ’81: Novelty items with soft covers”, in Richard M. Gaines, editor, The Boston Phoenix, volume X, number 50, Boston, Mass.: Boston Phoenix Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, section 7 (The Season: Part III), review of “THE DINOSAURS. By William Stout. […]”, page 16, column 5:",
          "text": "Instead of a dramatis personae of species, The Dinosaurs uses its beasts to illustrate climate, daily life, movement, danger, even extinction. So we meet nesting hydrosaurs, a singing pair of parasaurolophi, a herd of treetop-browsing brontosaurs.",
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          "ref": "2015 February 18, Yanis Varoufakis, “Yanis Varoufakis: How I became an erratic Marxist”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "Marx created a narrative populated by workers, capitalists, officials and scientists who were history’s dramatis personae.",
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              172,
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          "ref": "2025 June 14, Nigel Andrews, “They don't come any bigger”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 13:",
          "text": "Meanwhile, the other two main actors, Richard Dreyfuss as boyish ichthyologist Hooper and Robert Shaw as grizzled shark-hunter Quint, further added to the deepening of the dramatis personae by the paradoxical boon that they loathed each other.",
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      "glosses": [
        "The characters in a play, story, or history; a list of them, usually arranged in order of first appearance, as protatic matter."
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      "related": [
        {
          "word": "drama"
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        {
          "word": "dramatic"
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        {
          "word": "melodramatic"
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          "word": "personification"
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "list of characters",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "Dramatis Personae"
        },
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          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "dejstvujuščije lica",
          "sense": "list of characters",
          "tags": [
            "neuter",
            "plural"
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          "word": "действующие лица"
        }
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  "word": "dramatis personae"
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      "name": "bor"
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  "pos": "noun",
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          "text": "Edward Winslow, in Plymouth, made a revealing statement when he wrote, “We came here to avoid the hierarchy, the holy days, the Book of Common Prayer, etc.” […] There were, depending on the local area, many types of hierarchies in England […] If all this social structure was to be “avoided,” what substitutions did New England town leaders intend in order to provide form, spirit, and leadership to their new idealistic small commonwealths? How successful were any of these town leaders, and how did they measure their successes? Although each early Massachusetts, or New England, town might well provide distinct and fascinating answers, the historian is limited by his documents. Furthermore, he should not attempt to crowd his stage too much, lest the dramatis personae overwhelm his audience. One town, well documented in relation to its specific origins, can serve as a representative study for most early New England towns until further investigation takes place.",
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          "text": "Instead of a dramatis personae of species, The Dinosaurs uses its beasts to illustrate climate, daily life, movement, danger, even extinction. So we meet nesting hydrosaurs, a singing pair of parasaurolophi, a herd of treetop-browsing brontosaurs.",
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          "text": "Marx created a narrative populated by workers, capitalists, officials and scientists who were history’s dramatis personae.",
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        {
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            [
              172,
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            ]
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          "ref": "2025 June 14, Nigel Andrews, “They don't come any bigger”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 13:",
          "text": "Meanwhile, the other two main actors, Richard Dreyfuss as boyish ichthyologist Hooper and Robert Shaw as grizzled shark-hunter Quint, further added to the deepening of the dramatis personae by the paradoxical boon that they loathed each other.",
          "type": "quotation"
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    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "list of characters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "Dramatis Personae"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
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      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "dejstvujuščije lica",
      "sense": "list of characters",
      "tags": [
        "neuter",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "действующие лица"
    }
  ],
  "word": "dramatis personae"
}