How to Use thespian in a Sentence

thespian

1 of 2 noun
  • Stuhlbarg has taken a bunch of lessons from fellow thespians for decades.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 18 Oct. 2025
  • The Free Guy thespian was just having some fun.
    — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Even then, the budding thespian was chasing the spotlight — and a dream.
    — Mike Klingaman, baltimoresun.com, 29 June 2021
  • But what makes this thespian a real gem is his refreshing outlook on life.
    — Jasmine Grant, Essence, 28 Jan. 2020
  • The world of thespians is dramatic—and not just when performing a play.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Mar. 2026
  • That doesn’t mean that the serious thespian was without a sense of humor.
    — Byron Burton, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Dec. 2019
  • Iain’s demeanor is a mixture of carefree kid and astute thespian.
    — Yvonne Villarreal, latimes.com, 8 Sep. 2017
  • Kane's Rexy is a brash young thespian with sharp elbows and a tragic backstory.
    — Jeffrey Gillespie| For The Oregonian/oregonlive, oregonlive.com, 10 June 2019
  • Ultimately, the main challenge, for those who want to helm and act, thespians say, is timing.
    — Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 June 2018
  • Even among all the thespians in the room, the best performance of the night would go to Wintour and her daughter.
    — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 20 May 2019
  • She wasn’t disappointed by the effort of her young thespians.
    — Hank Beckman, Chicago Tribune, 4 Aug. 2023
  • The instruction to be rather than perform has stayed with the German thespian.
    — Clark Collis, EW.com, 29 July 2021
  • There’s nothing more annoying than watching a thespian fake being a rock star.
    — K.j. Yossman, Variety, 10 Feb. 2022
  • Ahmed, not only a gifted thespian but also a rapper in real life, co-wrote the screenplay.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Yes, this is the work of an amatuer thespian, the football-equivalent of a stagey death scene that never ends.
    — Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 5 July 2018
  • Baywatch was so poorly acted that its oily thespians could be seen to be inventing, frame by frame, a novel strain of camp.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 25 May 2017
  • Ahmed, not only a gifted thespian but also a rapper in real life, cowrote the screenplay.
    — Mark Olsen Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Torres is the type of thespian who practices his award rejection speeches in the mirror.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2022
  • Be sure to stick around for the twice-daily gunfights staged in the dusty streets by local thespians in 10-gallon hats.
    — Zoey Goto, Travel + Leisure, 8 Mar. 2026
  • What would the bevy of moonlighting thespians mean for the quality of the festival?
    — Vulture, 14 Sep. 2023
  • Ushers have passed out photos of Winston, a thespian canine who has gone missing.
    — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2017
  • Star Wars thespian Mark Hamill is getting involved in the real wars.
    — Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2022
  • Christian Bale, the intense thespian who’s done his best work with the equally all-or-nothing-at-all auteur?
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2022
  • Farris points out that the mandate of finding lower-profile actors doesn’t apply to just younger thespians.
    — Max Gao, HollywoodReporter, 30 May 2026
  • But Loretta and Ben are just two egotistical thespians among many.
    — Alison Herman, Variety, 8 Aug. 2023
  • Jones the co-director overindulges Jones the thespian, in a performance that could have used a restraining hand.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 14 Dec. 2022
  • Berry, a beloved British figure, and Hiddleston, a British thespian, have swapped places.
    — Kenzie Bryant, Vanities, 7 Mar. 2017
  • Her fellow thespians eventually confront her about the drinking, but Garance doesn’t want to hear it.
    — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • This marks Ben-Adir's most high-profile role yet, but the British thespian may already be familiar to some.
    — J'na Jefferson, Harper's BAZAAR, 19 Jan. 2021
  • As he's made apparent many times before, Brian Cox is not afraid to share his opinion of his fellow thespians.
    — Leigh Blickley, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Apr. 2026

thespian

2 of 2 adjective
  • And with his track record, the thespian pivot will come to him.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 24 Apr. 2025
  • Or perhaps given the hotel’s thespian heritage, on stage and back stage.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Marie Antoinette, quite the thespian, loved performing for her squad.
    — Serena Turner, Vanity Fair, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Even more striking than her lack of thespian chops, however, is her complete absence of screen presence.
    — Michaela Zee, Variety, 4 Nov. 2025
  • The guy was a bona fide thespian, but still an eager-to-learn 24-year-old when cast as the Man of Steel.
    — Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 11 July 2025
  • The eerie thing—something that returns to me from my thespian childhood—is that the true reward of the stage isn’t laughter or applause, welcome as those are.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 14 May 2025
  • The Spurs forward’s performance in his grade school play quite literally proved the thespian maxim that there are no small parts.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 13 Oct. 2021
  • But Zhao still needed to cast the actor who would play the thespian portraying Hamlet in the play within the movie.
    — Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 20 Nov. 2025
  • His Jacob in Punch is one of those rare performances that heralds the arrival of a major thespian talent.
    — Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 27 Nov. 2025
  • Nancy, who grew up poor before her thespian mother remarried a doctor, was anxious about money and fond of luxury.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 20 Nov. 2020
  • The two share four children who have all followed in his thespian footsteps and forayed into the entertainment industry.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 30 Mar. 2023
  • Her love for a moody Hollywood thespian and an Old Hollywood crooner?
    — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 9 June 2025
  • His performance in Top Gun proves the hoary old thespian adage that there are no small parts, just actors who aren’t as good as Val Kilmer.
    — John Devore, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2025
  • Also testing was Scottish thespian Gilli Jones.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 18 Dec. 2025
  • All the thespian’s chemistry felt less like castmates promoting a production and more like siblings teasing one another out of deep affection.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 18 May 2026
  • Theo James will ape the example of many a thespian predecessor by starring in a movie adaptation of a Stephen King tale.
    — Clark Collis, EW.com, 9 May 2023
  • In the days to follow, Lisa clashes with her thespian stepmom (Jenifer Lewis) about the over-the-top funeral arrangements.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 5 July 2025
  • Foley has been married to fellow thespian Marika Domińczyk since 2007.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 5 Apr. 2026
  • The Robes While the crown is obviously an emblem of royal figures, the use of robes is truly what makes the coronation a thespian affair.
    — Isiah Magsino, Town & Country, 7 May 2023
  • Singer-songwriter, rapper and thespian Lizzo also is an Emmy winner.
    — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2025
  • Everyone tries to keep elderly thespian Selsdon (Joel Kopischke) away from the bottle.
    — Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 18 Mar. 2023
  • The thespian in me also insisted on 'Waving Through a Window' from Dear Evan Hansen.
    — Zoey Lyttle, PEOPLE, 14 June 2026
  • Agosto Machado—artist, activist, thespian, muse, historian, raconteur, and perennial fashion plate—is one of them.
    — Alex Jovanovich, Artforum, 1 Sep. 2025
  • The thespian is curious about how Ibsen purists might react to this cinematic interpretation.
    — Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2025
  • Chapel takes to the job in grand thespian style, playing characters, improvising and analyzing motives through character analysis.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
  • Also out of place is Bloom’s Marlon, one of Kat’s students and a dour would-be thespian, though his rank unsuitability for the comedy-club scene is more of a running gag.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 6 June 2025
  • Maybe Senate Republicans’ chief failure isn’t ethical but thespian.
    — Barton Swaim, WSJ, 29 Sep. 2020
  • Aside from her amazing thespian skills, Parker is also a big shot in the booze business, collabing on a few bottles with New Zealand wine company Invivo.
    — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 10 Dec. 2025
  • Your superhero origin story doesn’t also have to a meta Hollywood buddy-comedy preaching The Thespian’s Gospel.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 12 Feb. 2026
  • Later, for a stint starting in the early 1900s, the theater was transformed into an automobile service garage before returning to its thespian roots in the 1960s.
    — Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 30 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thespian.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: