cothurns

/koʊˈθɜrnz/
noun
  1. Plural of cothurn; thick-soled boots worn by actors in ancient Greek and Roman tragedies.
    • The costume designer carefully crafted the cothurns to match historical descriptions.
    • The chorus all wore matching cothurns for the performance.
    • Archaeologists found a pair of leather cothurns in the ruins of an ancient theater.
  2. The style or spirit of tragic drama; a grand, elevated manner.
    • He spoke with cothurns, as if delivering a soliloquy from a Greek play.
    • The novel's cothurns made it feel like a modern epic.
    • The ceremony had a sense of cothurns, with its formal speeches and somber music.
What does "cothurns" mean? | whatsthatwordmean | whatsthatwordmean