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

“It is Grand Guignol, it is penny dreadful.”

From New York Times

Casey links the newspaper era that parallels the rise of the penny dreadful with the gestation of the 19th century idea of "new journalism."

From Salon

An adaptation of Christopher Bond’s 1973 play, its key source is a gristly 19th-century penny dreadful, “The String of Pearls: A Romance,” which describes a homicidal barber and the baker Mrs. Lovett, his unsavory accomplice.

From New York Times

The book, which has the texture of an existential penny dreadful, could be cut in half just by excising its many repetitions, which do little other than establish a heavy mood.

From The New Yorker