melodrama
a dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization.
melodramatic behavior or events.
(in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries) a romantic dramatic composition with music interspersed.
Origin of melodrama
1Other words from melodrama
- mel·o·dram·a·tist [mel-uh-dram-uh-tist, -drah-muh-], /ˌmɛl əˈdræm ə tɪst, -ˈdrɑ mə-/, noun
- min·i·mel·o·dra·ma, noun
Words Nearby melodrama
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use melodrama in a sentence
In one very funny scene, Linda weeps helplessly at a Paris train station as a suitor-to-be roars with laughter at her melodrama.
Amazon’s Divine Period Romance The Pursuit of Love Gives Classic Social Satire a Modern Twist | Judy Berman | July 30, 2021 | TimeIn the meantime, after two years of inconclusive elections and political melodrama, many Israelis will welcome a return to some sense of normalcy.
With Benjamin Netanyahu Out in Israel, What Comes Next for the Country? | Ian Bremmer | June 18, 2021 | TimeThe book is also a medical melodrama, a family mystery and a meditation on .
With ‘Double Blind,’ Edward St. Aubyn tasks himself with a formidable challenge | Charles Arrowsmith | June 11, 2021 | Washington PostIn footage from that moment, you can see Barr speak to the commander, after which the commander’s head droops with seemingly intentional melodrama.
The lingering questions about the clearing of Lafayette Square | Philip Bump | June 10, 2021 | Washington PostCompared with the melodrama of many Masters, Matsuyama’s 1-over-par 73 on Sunday, during which he often had a five-shot lead, might seem an entertaining but not hair-raising Masters finale.
Hideki Matsuyama’s draining, pressure-packed win makes this Masters memorable | Thomas M. Boswell | April 12, 2021 | Washington Post
Hitchcock saw human behavior fresh, even in a tired form like melodrama.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Lotus and the Storm turns out to be a grand, haunted melodrama with elements of camp, delivered in fragmentary reveries.
The deviating family melodrama has, thankfully, been replaced by shrewd spycraft.
‘Homeland’ Season 4: A Stripped-Down and Surprisingly Badass Return to Form | Marlow Stern | September 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe man of melodrama was not perceived as a fit for the postwar world.
Churchill Would Be Famous Today on the Strength of His Writing Alone | Anthony Paletta | June 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut Precious—a modern melodrama with a hugely sympathetic HIV-positive teen at its heart, was a hit with critics and audiences.
Hollywood’s Evolving Heart: How Movies Grew to Love Gays | Teo Bugbee | May 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBeneath this melodrama, the circumstances are recounted at great length, and some halting verses conclude the mournful narration.
The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries | Charles G. HarperThe play may be pure comedy, comedy-drama, tragedyeven farceor melodrama.
The Girls of Central High on the Stage | Gertrude W. MorrisonThen it is sung softly like the farmhand quartettes do in the rural melodrama outside the old homestead in harvest time.
The Real Latin Quarter | F. Berkeley SmithValmond was alive to it all, almost too alive, for at first the flamboyancy of his spirit touched him off with melodrama.
When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete | Gilbert ParkerThe kaimakam had a taste for melodrama, and had the prisoners brought before him immediately.
The Cradle of Mankind | W.A. Wigram
British Dictionary definitions for melodrama
/ (ˈmɛləˌdrɑːmə) /
a play, film, etc, characterized by extravagant action and emotion
(formerly) a romantic drama characterized by sensational incident, music, and song
overdramatic emotion or behaviour
a poem or part of a play or opera spoken to a musical accompaniment
Origin of melodrama
1Derived forms of melodrama
- melodramatist (ˌmɛləˈdræmətɪst), noun
- melodramatic (ˌmɛlədrəˈmætɪk), adjective
- melodramatics, pl n
- melodramatically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for melodrama
A play or film in which the plot is often sensational and the characters may display exaggerated emotion.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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