shadow play

noun

: a drama exhibited by throwing shadows of puppets or actors on a screen

called also shadow show

Examples of shadow play in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Natural light and its emotive shadow play, and honest interior compositions. Ad Editors, Architectural Digest, 12 July 2021 There’s a nod to almost every one of the auteur’s past works, from gangster dramas to gothic shadow plays. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2024 What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated. Rebecca Ritzel, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024 One episode hopscotches between the 1968 New York City garbage strike, a shadow play of the Ugandan genocide, and a mournful fantasy about the early AIDS crisis—all as background for the story of one marriage’s dissolution. Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 7 Sep. 2023 See all Example Sentences for shadow play 

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1890, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of shadow play was circa 1890

Dictionary Entries Near shadow play

Cite this Entry

“Shadow play.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shadow%20play. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on shadow play

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!