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drama - 4 dictionary results

dra⋅ma

[drah-muh, dram-uh]
–noun
1. a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character, esp. one intended to be acted on the stage; a play.
2. the branch of literature having such compositions as its subject; dramatic art or representation.
3. the art dealing with the writing and production of plays.
4. any situation or series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, or striking interest or results: the drama of a murder trial.
5. the quality of being dramatic.

Origin:
1505–15; < LL < Gk drâma action (of a play), equiv. to drâ(n) to do + -ma n. suffix
dra·ma   (drä'mə, drām'ə)   
n.  
    1. A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action.
    2. A serious narrative work or program for television, radio, or the cinema.
  1. Theatrical plays of a particular kind or period: Elizabethan drama.
  2. The art or practice of writing or producing dramatic works.
  3. A situation or succession of events in real life having the dramatic progression or emotional effect characteristic of a play: the drama of the prisoner's escape and recapture.
  4. The quality or condition of being dramatic: a summit meeting full of drama.

[Late Latin drāma, drāmat-, from Greek, from drān, to do, perform.]

Drama

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.
Language Translation for : drama
Spanish: obra de teatro,
German: das Drama,
Japanese:

drama 
1515, from L.L. drama "play, drama," from Gk. drama (gen. dramatos) "play, action, deed," from dran "to do, act, perform." Dramatic "appropriate to drama" is from 1725. Dramatis personæ 1730, from L., lit. "persons of a drama."
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