penny dreadful
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.
That a penny dreadful character originally meant just to shock and sicken becomes instead a pitiable victim is a testament to the power of music to make bad guys, if not good, compelling.
From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2023
The 19th century had a similar macabre popular fascination, the penny dreadful.
From Salon • Jan. 11, 2021
All Victorian life is here, which means the novel itself becomes a kind of freakshow, obsessed with its relationship to its own cleverly chosen epigraphs and the "penny dreadful" tales to which characters allude.
From The Guardian • Oct. 11, 2012
He refers to his adopted nephew as a “foundling,” as if this were a penny dreadful, which it kind of is.
From Slate • Jun. 13, 2012
On his bedside table were loose matches, unused stationery, a penny dreadful left facedown at the page he had stopped reading.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
