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Glite Dictionary
🪆 Art with puppets 🎭 Stiff performance
puppetry

puppetry

5.9
A stiff, unnatural way of acting that shows little feeling
  • noun
  • /ˈpʌpətri/
translation icon : actuación de títeres
  • Sock puppets are another thing entirely, and I get frustrated when I see books with hundreds of reviews that I suspect of sock-puppetry...

Zelazny shows us the stark stage beneath the puppetry of Shadow and takes us to the Pit of Chaos.

Examples

  • The children's theater performance featured lively puppetry that captivated the audience with its colorful characters.

  • Well, violence belongs with puppetry.

    An American Werewolf in London (1981)

  • Zelazny shows us the stark stage beneath the puppetry of Shadow and takes us to the Pit of Chaos.

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • The documentary explored the world of puppetry, highlighting how performers convey emotion through rigid movements.

  • His acting style was criticized for being too stiff and artificial, almost like puppetry on stage.

Antonyms

spontaneity
31 6.2

Acting on a sudden feeling without planning or thought

How Stiff

robotic
12 5.2
puppetry
5.9
fluid
13 4.2

Surface Forms

puppetry singular
puppetries plural

Morphology

puppetry = puppet (semi-transparent) = puppet + ry

The figurative sense ('stiff, artificial performance') is an extension of the literal 'puppet' meaning, so learners can guess a puppet-like quality but not the precise evaluative nuance.

Etymology

Puppetry is also used for a stiff or artificial performance because a puppet is moved by strings instead of feeling. So calling acting 'puppetry' means the performance feels controlled and not natural.