Histrionics

Word of the Day for Monday, June 4, 2012

histrionics \his-tree-ON-iks\, noun:

1. Behaviour or speech for effect, as insincere or exaggerated expression of an emotion.
2. Dramatic representation; theatricals; acting.

You are constantly talking about Beate's histrionics, her showing off.
-- Alberto Moravia, 1934

Of course it is not only southern writers, of lyrical bent, who engage in such histrionics and shout, "Look at me!" Perhaps it is a parable of all artists.
-- Tennessee Williams, New Selected Essays

Though it sounds like the word history, histrionics has a different root. It comes from the Etruscan root histriōn- which meant "actor".

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com