CEFR C2

penny dreadful

noun

Meaning

A cheap, sensational serial publication featuring lurid stories of crime, adventure, or the supernatural, popular in 19th-century Britain.

The young boy hid his penny dreadful under his mattress to avoid his father's disapproval of such trashy literature.
Critics of the era often blamed the rise in juvenile delinquency on the influence of the latest penny dreadful.

Synonyms: pulp fiction, shilling shocker, trashy novel, sensationalist literature

Examples

The young boy hid his penny dreadful under his mattress to avoid his father's disapproval of such trashy literature.

Critics of the era often blamed the rise in juvenile delinquency on the influence of the latest penny dreadful.

Collectors now pay a high price for original copies of the penny dreadful series that once sold for a mere copper.