Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1961
Docudrama
documentary drama
- Meaning
- A dramatised reconstruction of a true story, styled to feel documentary.
- Source words
- documentary + drama
- Coined by
- collective
- Year
- 1961
Background
Entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1980. Distinct from "mockumentary" (which is fiction pretending to be documentary) — docudrama is the opposite direction.
Late 20th century
Marketing, media, and the early internet. Infomercial, emoticon, workaholic — the coinages name phenomena of mass media and white-collar life. Several predate the decades they're associated with.
Two words, one coinage.
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