stage directions

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.

Today, to gauge a film’s potential, Macy aims to read scripts in one sitting and skips over the stage directions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

Thornton Wilder, whose “Our Town” is the most famous dramatic inheritor of Winesburg’s legacy, cautioned in his stage directions that the play “should be performed without sentimentality or ponderousness — simply, dryly and sincerely.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2024

I have a tendency to obsess over the stage directions, which are not in the movie.

From Seattle Times • May 23, 2023

The title of “Enter Ghost” is drawn from William Shakespeare’s stage directions, when King Hamlet’s ghost commands his son to seek justice in their rotten kingdom.

From Washington Post • Apr. 4, 2023

The cop gave his lines right and Francie picked up her cues happily and the stage directions were the smiles between the spoken lines.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith