sardoodledom

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/sɑː(ɹ)ˈduːdəldəm/

noun

Well-made works of drama that have trivial, insignificant, or melodramatic plots.

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Meanings

sardoodledom1

nounsardoodledom (uncountable)

alternative Sardoodledom

  1. uncommonuncountableWell-made works of drama that have trivial, insignificant, or melodramatic plots.

    What is new is that we have in movies an art form so exclusively given over to Sardoodledom that a Yale professor thinks that Sardoodledom is ingrained in the celluloid.

    2010 [1946], Eric Bentley, The Playwright as a Thinker: A Study of Drama in Modern Times, 4th edition, University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, page 34
    1 more example

    Naturally this critic loses no chance to express his contempt for what he calls “Sardoodledom:” the cult of the “wellmade” play. He gives M. Sardou no bail, and barely allows Mr. Pinero to go at large on good behavior.

    [1907 April, H. W. Boynton, “Mr. Shaw as Critic”, in The Atlantic

Sardoodledom2

nounSardoodledom (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of sardoodledom.

Origin

Blend of Sardou + doodle + -dom, named after French dramatist Victorien Sardou. Coined by Irish playwright, critic, and polemicist George Bernard Shaw who first used it on the 1 June, 1895 in the Saturday Review when criticising Sardou's well-made plays.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sardoodledom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sardoodledom

MLA

“sardoodledom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sardoodledom. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sardoodledom,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sardoodledom.

Source: sardoodledom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.