penny dreadful

noun

Chiefly British.

plural

penny dreadfuls 

1. a cheap, sensational novel of adventure, crime, or violence; dime novel.

penny-dreadful

noun

1. informal,  a cheap, often lurid or sensational book or magazine

Word History and Origins

Origin of penny-dreadful¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

It is the rare as-told-to book, or one created in collaboration with an author-for-hire, that is well-written, but “A Piece of Light” is filled with a superfluity of penny-dreadful prose.

From Washington Post

Which can make the penny-dreadful plot even more giggle-icious.

From New York Times

“Tics” isn’t as satisfying as the evening’s penny-dreadful playlets, “The Lighthouse Keepers” and “The Final Kiss,” which are fun because they are so single-mindedly sensationalistic.

From Washington Post

Instead, she praised it backhandedly as “a shallow masterpiece” that is “overwrought” with “obvious penny-dreadful popular theatrics.”

From Slate

Violent, sex-soaked dime novels and penny-dreadful magazines were immensely popular, and upstanding publications such as Harper's and the Atlantic Monthly took delight in denouncing them.

From Scientific American