Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

chew the scenery

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.37 in modern English

Syllables: chew the scenery
IPA

30

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

1

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.

Example Sentences

"Near-synonym: camp it up"
"The way the six stars chew the scenery is nothing compared to their abuse of one another."
"Starring as a Great White Hope police commissioner sent to clean up Washington, D.C., Nelson displays a set of pipes barely hinted at in his years on "Coach," spending the long pilot hour barking, bloviating, singing(!) and generally chewing the scenery."

Etymology

Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as being used by Mary Hallock Foote in Coeur D'Alene in 1894.http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001024

Inflected Forms

chews the scenery (present, singular) chewing the scenery (participle, present) chewed the scenery (participle, past) chewed the scenery (past) chew on the scenery (alternative) chew up the scenery (alternative)

Phrases

scenery-chewer scenery-chewing

Synonyms

ham it up melodramatize overact tear a cat camp it up

Questions

What does chew the scenery mean?: To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.
Where does chew the scenery come from?: Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as being used by Mary Hallock Foote in Coeur D'Alene in 1894.http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001024

How to pronounce chew the scenery

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