telegenic, a. orig. U.S.
(tɛlɪˈdʒɛnɪk)
[f. tele- 2 + -genic b, after photogenic.]
Of a person or thing: that shows to advantage on television; providing an interesting or attractive subject for a television broadcast.
| 1939 Sun (Baltimore) 16 Oct. 6/8 Judith Barrett, pretty and blonde actress, is the first Telegenic Girl to go on record. In other words she is the perfect type of beauty for television... She is slated for the first television motion picture. 1948 Daily Tel. 23 June 6/4 One word that is playing an important part at this gathering is ‘telegenic’. With everything that happens..being reproduced on thousands of television screens, the ability of any speaker to look as attractive as he sounds has become an important political asset. 1950 New Yorker 26 Aug. 18/3 Korman has spent many hours in the WOR Television studios, experimenting with telegenic properties of various weaves and colors of cloth and styles of suits. 1962 P. Ferris Church of England ii. 35 The letters ‘C.R.’ after a man's name keep cropping up..in the TV Times, television having discovered that the religious communities have some telegenic personalities. 1971 H. Wilson Labour Govt. (1974) xvi. 372 We had not yet reached the position where telegenic situations were planned in advance between a television authority and the demonstrators. 1980 Times 7 Nov. 12/2 Conscious that jazz by itself is not very telegenic, producers compensate by building shiny sets. |