dumb show
1
8.6
- noun
- /dʌm ʃoʊ/
- Archaic
:
mímica
- The dancers performed a beautiful dumb show, conveying the story entirely through gestures.
And yet Camus says it's a dumb show.
- And yet Camus says it's a dumb show.
Examples
-
Then Bill pauses; he stops cold and looks up and away in a dumb show of self-exasperation—a pained regret in his face and stance.
Fiction book (1992) -
We were too far away to overhear, but we followed the scene as it played out in dumb show before us.
Fiction book (1990) -
Parker watched the dumb show of her tears, realizing that she had chosen to let her son brave the perils of a cruel world alone.
Fiction book (1992) -
Every year your great-great-grandpa puts on that dumb show... to mark the end of Dia de Muertos.
-
During the play, there was a striking dumb show that depicted the characters' emotions without any dialogue.
-
The silent film relied heavily on dumb show techniques to communicate the plot to its audience.
Synonyms
11
6.5
A performance that tells a story without speaking using gestures and face movements
8
5.1
A silent show that uses gestures and body movements to tell a story
How Silent
- Archaic
1
8.6
8
5.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a performance without spoken words' is directly derivable from combining 'dumb' (silent; unable to speak) with 'show' (a staged performance), following straightforward English noun–modifier composition. Although 'dumb' can also mean 'stupid' in informal modern usage, the performance context and cross-linguistic parallels (e.g., mime/silent performance) make the silent interpretation accessible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The noun dumb show comes from old stage plays where dumb meant silent and show meant a short performance, so actors would tell a story using only gestures and movement. That's why it now means 'a performance without spoken words'.