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De - Pt| English Dictionary: Melodrama | by the DICT Development Group |
| 3 results for Melodrama | |
| From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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| From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
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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. [bd]The drama of war.[b8] --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. | |
| From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
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Melodrama \Mel`o*dra"ma\, n. [F. m[82]lodrame, fr. Gr. [?] song + [?] 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 [bd]Fidelio[b8]. | |
