matinee idol

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Even better, he has used his beauty not to become a matinee idol but to unsettle and surprise us, portraying characters whose handsomeness is very much the point but not the whole story.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

He’s a dashing, square-jawed, clean-shaven matinee idol with a luxurious head of long, curly black hair.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2025

Everyone knows that his cultivated image of a wealthy playboy who wined and dined beautiful women like he was some kind of matinee idol is another one of his lies.

From Salon • May 10, 2024

There was a stiffness to Mr. Belafonte’s early, untrained movie performances, and he admitted he was self-conscious in matinee idol roles.

From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2023

I fought for that long hair but the management said the audience has got to, have some Hackett—why I could not see—but he is a matinee idol and that long with the box office.

From Vanished Arizona by Summerhayes, Martha