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Definition of Melodrama
1. Noun. An extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization.
Definition of Melodrama
1. n. 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".
Definition of Melodrama
1. Noun. (archaic) A kind of drama having a musical accompaniment to intensify the effect of certain scenes. ¹
2. Noun. 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 grave digging scene of Beethoven's "Fidelio". ¹
3. Noun. (context: uncountable figuratively colloquial) Any situation or action which is blown out of proportion. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Melodrama
1. [n -S]
Medical Definition of Melodrama
1. 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". Origin: F. Melodrame, fr. Gr. Song + drama. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Melodrama
Literary usage of Melodrama
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. The American Dramatist by Montrose Jonas Moses (1917)
"The term melodrama or melodramatic, as applied to a play, is popularly looked
upon as a sign of condemnation, yet if we consider the essential ingredients ..."
2. A History of English Poetry by William John Courthope (1903)
"CHAPTER IX THE DRAMATIC TASTE OF THE CITY : ROMANCE AND melodrama ARDEN OF
FEVERSHAM, CHAPMAN, MARSTON, TOURNEUR, AND WEBSTER I USE melodrama in its ..."
3. Technique of the Photoplay by Epes Winthrop Sargent (1916)
"In melodrama he knocks him down. In drama the villain may seek the love of the
... melodrama is favored above drama by a majority of play patrons because of ..."
4. The Children's Educational Theatre by Alice Minnie Herts Heniger (1911)
"VI The educational value of melodrama illustrated by our production of "The Prince
and the Pauper." WHILE it is beginning to be ..."
5. The English Stage: Being an Account of the Victorian Drama by Pierre Marie Augustin Filon, Augustin Filon (1897)
"It was then he worked at melodrama. He served seven years with Laban, and married
Leah, upheld by the hope of one day obtaining ..."
6. A Manual of Composition and Rhetoric: A Text-book for Schools and Colleges by John Seely Hart (1892)
"melodrama. — A melodrama is a drama in which some parts are spoken and some are
sung. Both in Opera and melodrama, the author seeks to produce effects by ..."
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