How to Use topicality in a Sentence

topicality

noun
  • Then there’s the show’s sense of topicality — or rather, the lack thereof.
    Karen Han, Vox, 21 Sep. 2018
  • The topicality of these thoughts lie in the Phillies’ center fielder.
    David Murphy, Philly.com, 17 July 2017
  • But the topicality of our weblogs are far enough apart that the retweet got my attention.
    Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 19 Jan. 2011
  • This little bit of topicality is a nice dig at recent events.
    Washington Post, 12 Apr. 2022
  • The novel’s never going to be good at dealing with that kind of topicality.
    Tobias Carroll, Longreads, 16 May 2018
  • There’s a solid YA adventure show to be made about these characters, one that embraces the topicality of its premise with more nuance.
    Joshua Alston, Variety, 14 Dec. 2022
  • When a subject like this comes up, Jimmy seems to hold it in his hand like a piece of fruit, rotating it, checking its luster and bruises for both its humor and its topicality.
    Michael Paterniti, GQ, 17 Jan. 2018
  • Now Peloton, which pumps out dozens of streaming classes a day, has introduced topicality and specificity to the genre.
    New York Times, 16 Mar. 2021
  • Part of the success of her videos is because of their topicality, but this special isn’t riffing on the latest ridiculous speech so much as trying to create a fictional world.
    Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 27 Oct. 2020
  • Freed from the burdens of topicality, characters in the process of being canceled make for great material.
    Vulture, 25 Jan. 2023
  • In a separate interview, Newton, who plays the world-weary brothel madam Maeve, pauses upon being asked about the show's topicality in a changing world.
    Chris Barton, latimes.com, 20 Apr. 2018
  • The Affair raised the subject in a misguided attempt at topicality toward the end of its final season, but dropped it entirely by the series finale.
    Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 7 Nov. 2019
  • There was no attempt to update the period or underscore the work’s topicality.
    Los Angeles Times, 12 July 2021
  • But for all its topicality, the movie feels quaint and dated, taking place in the early weeks of quarantine when the idea of staying inside and getting your groceries delivered was still a novelty.
    David Sims, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2021
  • The connection to President Trump, while period-appropriate, feels a bit forced, and designed to give the show a topicality.
    Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 1 June 2018
  • But onto more pressing concerns in relation to the topicality of this weblog.
    Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 30 May 2011
  • The series shoots on a tight turnaround for maximum topicality, which means that production was recently shut down due to, like, the entire world shutting itself down.
    Darren Franich, EW.com, 9 Apr. 2020
  • But there’s a nagging half-heartedness to these bids for topicality, and something less than conviction in the movie’s semisweet encouragement of optimism in the face of mounting danger.
    Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2022
  • With its images of police brutality and the treatment of women as little more than birthing receptacles, House brings its own grim 2022 topicality to the table.
    Sean T. Collins, Rolling Stone, 21 Aug. 2022
  • The game takes us through varying levels of topicality, showing at one point that the path to freedom is empathy and at another how the pressures of being Black can turn one’s entire life into an act of performance.
    Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2021
  • He wheat-pastes with the frequency and topicality of a witty millennial sending tweets.
    Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2020
  • Though it’s centered on a 50-year-old case, Detroit looks to be an examination of police tactics and racial violence with aching topicality.
    Rebecca Keegan, VanityFair.com, 12 Apr. 2017
  • The shows — whether through an opening monologue or an interview with a celebrity who has a movie premiering soon — depend on topicality, something that has not quite translated to streaming.
    Benjamin Mullin, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2022
  • In a mortifying sprinkling of topicality, the movie — set in summer 2016 — shows John, a lifelong Democratic voter, unwittingly joining in the chants at a rally for Donald Trump.
    Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2018
  • There’s one sequence set at a border detention center that nudges toward topicality.
    Darren Franich, EW.com, 22 Oct. 2019
  • But of course, art shouldn’t be pigeon-holed; artists have a broad range of expression, hopefully not limited to region, topicality, genre, gender, ethnicity.
    Anne Tschida, miamiherald, 6 July 2017
  • The Morning Show, for example, has a Newsroom-like topicality and relies on its immediacy — screenwriters also aren't fooling anyone by using the pandemic as a means of grounding their shows.
    Jeva Lange, The Week, 18 Oct. 2021
  • The film illuminates the story of a city grappling with racial tension and police brutality with alarming topicality and modern-day relevance (pictured: MOVE members).
    Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2020
  • But the topicality may give the impression that Manzoni’s novel is some obscure text tendentiously trawled from the archives for useful contemporary parallels.
    Sam Sacks, WSJ, 23 Sep. 2022
  • If topicality isn’t a draw for you, P-Valley continues to boast a soundtrack of wall-to-wall bangers and an atmosphere of sweltering saturation so pervasive the show could premiere in December and make air-conditioning necessary.
    Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 June 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'topicality.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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