groundling

Examples Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of groundling Officials cleared dozens of barges from a river channel near Lake Providence, Louisiana, and dredged it after a groundling occurred Friday, halting river traffic in both directions for days. Jim Salter, USA TODAY, 10 Oct. 2022 Aimed straight at the groundlings, this rousing drinking song is pure silly fun, with Sir Toby Belch (Shuler Hensley) and the gang trading late-night insults. New York Times, 22 Apr. 2020 His creations scared the crap out of groundlings and aristocrats alike, including the Queen of Denmark and the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen. James Marcus, The New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2019 Those onstage, like Feste and Puck before them, mocked their patrons, played to the groundlings, but spoke honestly of broader uncertainties. Ian Malone, Vogue, 3 Oct. 2019 This collision of classes is an old promise of the theatre, all the way back to Shakespeare’s Globe, where the court and the groundlings watched the same actors perform the same play—while also watching each other. Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2019 Goslings and ducklings are baby birds, but a groundling is an uncritical or unrefined person (too poor to pay for a seat in Renaissance theaters) and a changeling is a child exchanged by fairies, or any kind of replacement of inferior value. Melissa Mohr, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 June 2018 The section of the theater where the groundlings stand? Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 28 June 2017

Podcast

Thesaurus Entries Near groundling

Cite this Entry

“Groundling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/groundling. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

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