different between theatrical vs upstage

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?i?æt.??.k?l/

Adjective

theatrical (comparative more theatrical, superlative most theatrical)

1. Of or relating to the theatre.
   • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift

     The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.

2. Fake and exaggerated.

Translations

Noun

theatrical (plural theatricals)

1. A stage performance, especially one by amateurs.
2. A commercially produced film to be shown in movie theaters.
   • 2005, The Hollywood Reporter (page 61)

     Release schedules were stepped up so that virtually all of the summer theatricals are coming to video before year's end.

English

Etymology

up- +? stage. The figurative uses “haughty” and “to draw attention away” derive from actors moving to a higher and thus more visible position on a sloped stage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?ste?d??/
• Rhymes: -e?d?

Noun

upstage (uncountable)

1. (theater) The part of a stage that is farthest from the audience or camera.

   Coordinate terms: center stage, downstage, stage left, stage right

Adverb

upstage (comparative more upstage, superlative most upstage)

1. Toward or at the rear of a theatrical stage.

2. Away from the audience or camera.

Adjective

upstage (comparative more upstage, superlative most upstage)

1. At the rear of a stage.

2. (figuratively, obsolete) Haughty, aloof.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:arrogant

Verb

upstage (third-person singular simple present upstages, present participle upstaging, simple past and past participle upstaged)

1. (figuratively, transitive) To draw attention away from others, especially on-stage.

   Synonyms: eclipse, overshadow
2. (transitive, theater) To force other actors to face away from the audience by staying upstage.
3. (transitive, by extension) To treat snobbishly.
4. (medicine, transitive) To restage upward; to restage (a case of a disease, usually a cancer) to a higher stage than that found at last assessment.

   Antonym: downstage

Translations

Further reading

• rake (theatre) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “upstage”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

References