'Melodrama' definitions:

Definition of 'melodrama'

(from WordNet)
noun
An extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization

Definition of 'Melodrama'

From: GCIDE
  • Melodrama \Mel`o*dra"ma\, n. [F. m['e]lodrame, fr. Gr. me`los song + dra^ma drama.] Formerly, a kind of drama having a musical accompaniment to intensify the effect of certain scenes. Now, a drama abounding in romantic sentiment and agonizing situations, with a musical accompaniment only in parts which are especially thrilling or pathetic. In opera, a passage in which the orchestra plays a somewhat descriptive accompaniment, while the actor speaks; as, the melodrama in the gravedigging scene of Beethoven's "Fidelio". [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'melodrama'

From: GCIDE
  • Drama \Dra"ma\ (dr[aum]"m[.a] or dr[=a]"m[.a]; 277), n. [L. drama, Gr. dra^ma, fr. dra^n 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. [1913 Webster]
  • A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest. "The drama of war." --Thackeray. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • The drama and contrivances of God's providence. --Sharp. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it; dramatic literature. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The principal species of the drama are tragedy and comedy; inferior species are tragi-comedy, melodrama, operas, burlettas, and farces. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. Dramatic

Synonyms of 'melodrama'

From: Moby Thesaurus