Meaning
A person who habitually reacts to minor events or setbacks with theatrical, exaggerated distress - storming, sighing, declaring catastrophe; Wiktionary labels the term idiomatic, informal and derogatory, 'an overly or exaggeratedly dramatic person'. The name borrows the stage's leading lady to mock offstage histrionics. Derogatory and usually gendered - applied most often to women and girls, though drama king and ungendered use both occur; the initials DQ appear as slang. The related adjective is dramatic in the colloquial 'you're so dramatic' sense. Regional use: General English.
Origin
A twentieth-century coinage with a precise birthdate on record: the OED's earliest evidence for drama queen is from 1923, in the Washington Post, and Merriam-Webster independently gives 1923 as first known use - an unusually clean agreement between the two dictionaries. Farlex's idiom guide prints the everyday examples ('don't be such a drama queen, Tom, they're not going to fire you for a simple mistake like that'). The phrase transfers the grand manner of the theatrical queen - the raving monarch of melodrama - to anyone who performs their inconveniences at that volume. Wiktionary's synonyms run from diva to narcissist, its register labels marking the insult.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- drama king
- drama queens
Usage Examples
- Don't be such a drama queen; the printer will be fixed by lunch.
- One dropped spoon and he turned into a full drama queen, demanding a new kitchen.
- She's lovely, but she is a bit of a drama queen about flights.