Melodrama - Definitions from Dictionary.com

10 results for: Melodrama

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mel·o·dra·ma

Audio Help [mel-uh-drah-muh, -dram-uh] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	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.

2.	melodramatic behavior or events.

3.	(in the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries) a romantic dramatic composition with music interspersed.

[Origin: 1800–10; < F mélodrame, equiv. to mélo- (< Gk mélos song) + drame drama

]

—Related forms

mel·o·dram·a·tist

Audio Help [mel-uh-dram-uh-tist, -drah-muh-] Pronunciation Key, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Melodrama

To learn more about Melodrama visit Britannica.com

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mel·o·dra·ma Audio Help (měl'ə-drä'mə, -drām'ə) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A drama, such as a play, film, or television program, characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters, and interpersonal conflicts.
2. The dramatic genre characterized by this treatment.
Behavior or occurrences having melodramatic characteristics.

[Alteration of melodrame, from French mélodrame, spoken drama that includes some musical accompaniment, melodrama : Greek melos, song + French drame, drama (from Late Latin drāma; see drama).]

(Download Now or Buy the Book)

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
melodrama

1802, melodrame, "a stage-play in which songs were interspersed and music accompanied the action," from Fr. mélodrame, from Gk. melos "song" (see melody) + Fr. drame "drama" (see drama). Meaning "a romantic and sensational dramatic piece with a happy ending" is from 1883, since this was often the form of the original melodramas.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

melodrama
noun
an extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
melodrama1 [ˈmelədraːmə] noun

a (type of) play in which emotions and the goodness or wickedness of the characters are exaggerated greatly

Arabic:	مَشْجاه: مَسْرَحِيَّه تُبالِغ في وَصْف العَواطِف وتَن�
Chinese (Simplified):	情节剧
Chinese (Traditional):	情節劇
Czech:	melodrama
Danish:	melodrama
Dutch:	melodrama
Estonian:	melodraama
Finnish:	melodraama
French:	mélodrame
German:	das Melodrama
Greek:	μελόδραμα
Hungarian:	melodráma
Icelandic:	melódrama
Indonesian:	melodrama
Italian:	melodramma

Japanese:	メロドラマ
Korean:	멜로드라마
Latvian:	melodrāma
Lithuanian:	melodrama
Norwegian:	melodrama, folkekomedie
Polish:	melodramat
Portuguese (Brazil):	melodrama
Portuguese (Portugal):	melodrama
Romanian:	melodramă
Russian:	мелодрама
Slovak:	melodráma
Slovenian:	melodrama
Spanish:	melodrama
Swedish:	melodram
Turkish:	melodram, acıklı oyun

melodrama2 [ˈmelədraːmə] noun

(an example of) behaviour similar to a play of this sort
Example: He makes a melodrama out of everything that happens.

Arabic:	شَبيه بِمَسْرَحِيَّه عاطِفِيَّه
Chinese (Simplified):	感情夸张的言行
Chinese (Traditional):	誇張的言行
Czech:	melodrama
Danish:	melodrama
Dutch:	melodrama
Estonian:	melodraama
Finnish:	kohtaus
French:	mélo
German:	das Melodrama
Greek:	μελοδραματική συμπεριφορά
Hungarian:	melodráma
Icelandic:	melódrama
Indonesian:	mendramatisasi
Italian:	melodramma

Japanese:	メロドラマ的な言動
Korean:	멜로드라마 같은 행동
Latvian:	melodrāma; teātris
Lithuanian:	melodrama
Norwegian:	komedie, melodrama
Polish:	melodramat
Portuguese (Brazil):	melodrama
Portuguese (Portugal):	melodrama
Romanian:	melodramă
Russian:	театральность
Slovak:	melodráma
Slovenian:	melodrama
Spanish:	melodrama
Swedish:	melodrama
Turkish:	melodram

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
melodrama

A play or film in which the plot is often sensational and the characters may display exaggerated emotion.

[Chapter:] Conventions of Written English

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

melodrama

Dra"ma\ (?; 277), n. [L. drama, Gr. ?, fr. ? to do, act; cf. Lith. daryti.]

1. A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action, and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by actors on the stage.

A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon. --Milton.

2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest. "The drama of war." --Thackeray.

Westward the course of empire takes its way; The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last. --Berkeley.

The drama and contrivances of God's providence. --Sharp.

3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it; dramatic literature.

Note: The principal species of the drama are tragedy and comedy; inferior species are tragi-comedy, melodrama, operas, burlettas, and farces.

The romantic drama, the kind of drama whose aim is to present a tale or history in scenes, and whose plays (like those of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others) are stories told in dialogue by actors on the stage. --J. A. Symonds.

Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

MELODRAMA

MELODRAMA: in Acronym Finder

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

melodrama

melodrama: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

Browse Nearby Entries: