Luvvie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A member of the performing arts community who displays an excessive fondness or romanticism for their craft and peers
2. An individual involved in theater or film who often shows idealistic or sentimental admiration for their art and fellow artists
3. A person associated with performance arts who exhibits an exaggerated affection or nostalgic sentiment toward their profession and colleagues

Etymology: "Luvvie" is a playful respelling of "love," written to sound the way the word is often pronounced in an affectionate, drawn-out way. The "-y" ending is a familiar diminutive and endearment suffix, so the word is essentially "love" with a sing-song tail added to it. The theatrical sense grew from the word's habit of appearing in actors' talk. Actors greeting one another backstage tend to use "darling" and "love" constantly, and that habit made the word sound like an actor's trademark. Outsiders began using it to mock the stage crowd's effusive manner, and "luvvie" came to mean a gushing theatre person who greets everyone with air kisses and endearments.

Synonyms: actor, performer, thespian, entertainer, artist

Antonyms: audience, spectator, viewer, critic, bystander