melodrama
pronunciation
How to pronounce melodrama in British English:
UK [ˈmelədrɑ:mə]
How to pronounce melodrama in American English:
US [ˈmɛləˌdrɑmə, -ˌdræmə]
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- Noun:
- an extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization
Word Origin
- melodrama (n.)
- 1784 (1782 as melo drame), "a stage-play in which songs were interspersed and music accompanied the action," from French mélodrame (18c.), from Greek melos "song" (see melody) + French drame "drama" (see drama). Meaning "a romantic and sensational dramatic piece with a happy ending" is from 1883, because this was often the form of the original melodramas. Also from French are Spanish melodrama, Italian melodramma, German melodram. Related: Melodramatize. The melodramatist's task is to get his characters labelled good & wicked in his audience's minds, & to provide striking situations that shall provoke & relieve anxieties on behalf of poetic justice. [Fowler]
Example
- 1. Instead of tragedy , we got melodrama .
- 2. Okay , enough melodrama for one post .
- 3. Let 's just cut the lie and the melodrama .
- 4. Melodrama is perhaps one fault of the film ; an oddly sanitised picture of daily life is another .
- 5. Today we would call them retarded ; in 1912 , they would have been about as smart as many characters in melodrama .