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.

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 • Jan. 11, 2021

Van Helsing educates Victor in the ways of vampires with the help of a penny dreadful called “Varney the Vampire, or The Feast of Blood,” and then practically adopts the young doctor on the street.

From New York Times • Jun. 15, 2014

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

Travelers to the village were rare, but occasionally a peddler would come through the village, selling "penny dreadful" accounts of grisly murders, fateful encounters, dire doings and remarkable escapes.

From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman