playwright

playwright — noun

1. someone whose job is creating the words and story of a play, so that actors can

1.nounB2
Definition

someone whose job is creating the words and story of a play, so that actors can perform it on stage, on television, or on the radio.

Example

The young playwright spent six months writing her first stage drama in a small Dublin café.

young / first playwright; common adjective + noun pattern

Shakespeare is the most famous English playwright, and his plays are still performed today.

famous / English playwright; biographical framing

Common collocations
  • young playwright
  • famous playwright
  • local playwright
  • award-winning playwright
  • become a playwright
Synonyms
  • dramatist

    more formal and academic; often used in literary criticism

  • scriptwriter

    broader — includes writers for film and TV, not just stage plays

  • screenwriter

    specifically writes scripts for film or television, not for live theatre

Usage Note

Despite the spelling, the second part is '-wright' (a maker), not '-write'. A common misspelling is 'playwrite', which is wrong even though the person does write the play.

Common Mistakes

She is a famous playwrite who has written ten dramas.
She is a famous playwright who has written ten dramas.
the suffix is '-wright' (maker), not '-write'.
The playwright acted the lead role in his own play.
The playwright wrote the lead role for himself, then acted it on opening night.
a playwright writes the play; you need a separate verb if they also perform.

Word family

  • play
    nounA1
  • playwriting
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe people who write scripts, but the medium and tone differ. A playwright writes works meant to be performed live on stage; the term is everyday and neutral, used in newspapers, theatre programmes, and conversation. A dramatist covers the same job but sounds more formal and scholarly — you meet it in literary essays and university courses, often when discussing the craft or the writer's body of work as art. A scriptwriter is the broadest of the four: anyone who writes a script, whether for stage, film, television, or radio. A screenwriter narrows that down again, but in the opposite direction from playwright — only films and TV shows, never the theatre. So Shakespeare was a playwright (and a dramatist), while the person who wrote your favourite Netflix series is a screenwriter.

playwright ↗dramatistscriptwriterscreenwriter ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • playwright's work
  • playwright's career
  • theatre playwright

Phrases

  • aspiring playwright
  • leading playwright of his generation

Prepositions

  • playwright of [a play]
  • playwright from [place]

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

Formed in English around 1600 from 'play' (a stage drama) plus '-wright', an old word meaning 'maker' or 'worker'. The '-wright' suffix comes from Old English 'wyrhta', from the same root as 'work', and it survives today in trade names such as shipwright (someone who builds ships), wheelwright (who makes wheels), and cartwright (who makes carts). So a playwright is literally a 'play-maker' — the spelling has nothing to do with the verb 'write', even though the playwright does write the play.