Download the app
educalingo
Search
'Somewhere in Time' is in the top-five cheesiest movies ever made. It's super melodrama.
Mark Duplass

Meaning of "melodrama" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD MELODRAMA

From French mélodrame, from Greek melos song + dramedrama.
info
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp
section

PRONUNCIATION OF MELODRAMA

melodrama  [ˈmɛləˌdrɑːmə] play
facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsapp

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF MELODRAMA

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Melodrama is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES MELODRAMA MEAN IN ENGLISH?

melodrama

Melodrama

A melodrama is a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions, often with strongly stereotyped characters. Language, behaviour, or events which resemble melodramas are also called melodramatic. In scholarly and historical musical contexts melodramas are dramas of the 18th and 19th centuries in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action. Melodrama is a style of drama that has been applied on the stage, in movies and television, and radio formats, from the 18th century to the present. Because of the long timeframe in which the style has existed, it is difficult to derive a precise definition. The term melodrama is most often used pejoratively, to suggest that the work to which the term is applied lacks sophistication or subtlety. The term originated from the early 19th-century French word mélodrame, which is derived from Greek melos, music, and French drame, drama.

Definition of melodrama in the English dictionary

The first definition of melodrama in the dictionary is a play, film, etc, characterized by extravagant action and emotion. Other definition of melodrama is a romantic drama characterized by sensational incident, music, and song. Melodrama is also overdramatic emotion or behaviour.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH MELODRAMA


Brahma
ˈbrɑːmə
cama
ˈkɑːmə
choreodrama
ˌkɒrɪəʊˈdrɑːmə
Cinerama
ˌsɪnəˈrɑːmə
Circlorama
ˌsɜːkləˈrɑːmə
cosmorama
ˌkɒzməˈrɑːmə
cyclorama
ˌsaɪkləʊˈrɑːmə
diorama
ˌdaɪəˈrɑːmə
docudrama
ˈdɒkjʊˌdrɑːmə
drama
ˈdrɑːmə
grama
ˈɡrɑːmə
gramma
ˈɡrɑːmə
lama
ˈlɑːmə
monodrama
ˈmɒnəʊˌdrɑːmə
myriorama
ˌmɪrɪəˈrɑːmə
Nama
ˈnɑːmə
Obama
əʊˈbɑːmə
panorama
ˌpænəˈrɑːmə
psychodrama
ˈsaɪkəʊˌdrɑːmə
Rama
ˈrɑːmə

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE MELODRAMA

melodic minor
melodic minor scale
melodica
melodically
melodies
melodion
melodious
melodiously
melodiousness
melodise
melodiser
melodist
melodize
melodizer
melodramatic
melodramatically
melodramatise
melodramatist
melodramatize
melody

WORDS THAT END LIKE MELODRAMA

agama
Alabama
ashrama
asrama
closet drama
costume drama
Dalai Lama
Gama
Hama
hospital drama
jicama
Kama
kitchen-sink drama
mama
music drama
Panama
period drama
sama
tarama
Yokohama

Synonyms and antonyms of melodrama in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «melodrama» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF MELODRAMA

Find out the translation of melodrama to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of melodrama from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «melodrama» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

惊险故事
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

melodrama
570 millions of speakers

English

melodrama
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

नाटक
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

ميلودراما
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

мелодрама
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

melodrama
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

গীতিনাটক
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

mélodrame
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Melodrama
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Melodrama
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

メロドラマ
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

멜로드라마
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Melodrama
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

nhạc kịch xưa
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

உணர்ச்சியூட்டும்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

भावनाक्षोभ करणारे आनंददायी नाटक
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

melodram
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

melodramma
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

melodramat
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

мелодрама
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

melodramă
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

μελόδραμα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

melodrama
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

melodram
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

melodrama
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of melodrama

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «MELODRAMA»

The term «melodrama» is quite widely used and occupies the 38.459 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
82
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «melodrama» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of melodrama
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «melodrama».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «MELODRAMA» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «melodrama» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «melodrama» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about melodrama

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «MELODRAMA»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word melodrama.
1
Irving Babbitt
If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.
2
Tom Baker
I'm obsessive about the kind of melodrama of getting through the days and trying to make them good and funny and a happy experience. But my feeling towards the fans is that they delivered me from darkness.
3
Deepak Chopra
The world sometimes feels like an insane asylum. You can decide whether you want to be an inmate or pick up your visitor's badge. You can be in the world but not engage in the melodrama of it; you can become a spiritual being having a human experience thoroughly and fully.
4
Mark Duplass
'Somewhere in Time' is in the top-five cheesiest movies ever made. It's super melodrama.
5
James Gray
Melodrama and melodramatic are not the same thing, and often people make the mistake of confusing the two.
6
James Gray
Melodrama is one of the most stunning art forms. These are stories where the emotions are big, and the situations are big, and the artists believe in the situation dramatically. There's no irony or distance.
7
Lillian Hellman
If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The end is inevitable from the beginning. But if you believe that man can solve his own problems and is at nobody's mercy, then you will probably write melodrama.
8
Peter Horton
Melodrama is something that is created... I don't seen a melodramatic episode of '90210' or any show that relies on that and think, 'Oh, that's life. That's how I experience it.'
9
Kenneth Lonergan
Teenagers all think their life is a movie. If you break up with someone or you have a fight, you walk around with movie scores playing in your head. You sort of see yourself suffering as you're suffering. There's a lot of melodrama attached to the real events of your life.
10
Baz Luhrmann
All good, clean stories are melodrama; it's just the set of devices that determines how you show or hide it.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «MELODRAMA»

Discover the use of melodrama in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to melodrama and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Melodrama:
Modernism and the Architecture of Private Life offers a bold new assessment of the role of the domestic sphere in modernist literature, architecture, and design.
Dr. John Mercer, Martin Shingler, 2004
2
Melodrama Unveiled: American Theater and Culture, 1800-1850
David Grimsted's Melodrama Unveiled explores early American drama to try to understand why such severely limited plays were so popular for so long.
David Grimsted, 1968
3
Imitations of Life: A Reader on Film & Television Melodrama
In her introduction to the book, Landy explores the recent interest in the genre in relation to theoretical work in psychoanalysis and semiotics, setting the stage for the essays that follow.
Marcia Landy, 1991
4
Refiguring Melodrama in Film and Television: Captive ...
This work argues that, whereas genres divide a universe in terms of similarities and differences, modes express or modify an indivisible whole.
Agustín Zarzosa, 2013
5
Melodrama and Meaning: History, Culture, and the Films of ...
Barbara Klinger shows how institutions most associated with Hollywood cinema—academia, the film industry, review journalism, star publicity, and the mass media—create meaning and ideological identity for films.
Barbara Klinger, 1994
6
South Korean Golden Age Melodrama: Gender, Genre, and ...
These essays also examine genre in relation to articulations of nation and constructions of gender in Golden Age films and how the nation manifests itself in persistent gender and genre trouble.
Kathleen McHugh, Nancy Abelmann, 2005
7
Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and Its ...
, "The Perils of Pauline," "The Hazards of Helen," etc.), Singer uncovers a fundamentally modern cultural expression, one reflecting transformations in the sensory environment of the metropolis, in the experience of capitalism, in the ...
Ben Singer, 2013
8
The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, ...
The Melodramatic Imagination has become a classic work for understanding theater, fiction, and film.
Peter Brooks, 1976
9
Melodrama and Asian Cinema
This unique study examines the importance of melodrama in the film traditions of Japan, India, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia.
Wimal Dissanayake, 1993
10
Melodrama: stage, picture, screen
This book draws on the papers presented at the international conference Melodrama: Stage Picture Screen held in London in 1992.
Jacqueline S. Bratton, Jim Cook, Christine Gledhill, 1994

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «MELODRAMA»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term melodrama is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Why is melodrama theater popular in the West?
"The American melodrama is considered an illegitimate stepchild of theater," says Gary McCarver, founder of the National Directory for ... «Wyoming Tribune, Jul 15»
2
The Car Man, Sadler's Wells review: a steamy melodrama that's just …
The Car Man is one of Matthew Bourne's best shows, a steamy melodrama that's just right for sultry summer nights. Bourne loves a reboot, ... «Evening Standard, Jul 15»
3
'Tut' miniseries is overstuffed melodrama
Surprisingly enough, for the first two hours of Spike's Tut (Sunday, 9 ET/PT, ** stars out of four), a six-hour sand-and-sandal melodrama, our ... «USA TODAY, Jul 15»
4
'Four-Legged Fortune' gallops into Melodrama
A classic melodrama that has been delighting audiences for nearly 150 years has been added to the summer season at the Great American ... «Lompoc Record, Jul 15»
5
Mario Vargas Llosa's delicious melodrama of sex, love and revenge
For decades, the acclaimed Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa has split himself into two personalities: There is Vargas Llosa, the author of ... «Washington Post, Jul 15»
6
'Safelight': Predictable melodrama set in 1970s
A predictable melodrama set in the 1970s, Safelight is barely held together by a minimalist plot, nice photography, and some solid acting from ... «Philly.com, Jul 15»
7
Robin Williams helps 'Boulevard' transcend melodrama
A middle-age married man confronting a long-repressed sexual awakening sounds like the stuff of a Lifetime channel melodrama. Yet the ... «Washington Post, Jul 15»
8
Dangberg melodrama portrays historic conflict
The cast and crew would like to invite the community to the melodrama Battle of the Towns or "Are You a Mindenite or a GardnerVillian?". «The Record-Courier, Jul 15»
9
The 'Apple of China' says the whole 'melodrama' about copying …
So this whole copycat melodrama all boils down to one chamfered edge on one particular phone model, which was Mi-4, which people said ... «Business Insider, Jul 15»
10
Story of a Love Affair: Milanese melodrama brings love triangle to life
The stylishness of this noirish melodrama about infidelity and postwar malaise accumulates in layers, and it's not merely visual. «The Globe and Mail, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Melodrama [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/melodrama>. Apr 2024 ».
Download the educalingo app
en
English dictionary
Discover all that is hidden in the words on
index
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z