# Poetomachia

> English word · Proper noun

## Definitions
1. A controversy in later Elizabethan theater, involving a number of playwrights satirizing each other with their plays, in a period when verse and prose satire was banned due to the Bishops' Ban of 1599.

## Etymology
Coined by Thomas Dekker. See poet and μάχη (mákhē, “battle”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/poetomachia