Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Having the excitement and emotional appeal of melodrama: "a melodramatic account of two perilous days spent among the planters” ( Frank O. Gatell).
- adj. Exaggeratedly emotional or sentimental; histrionic: "Accuse me, if you will, of melodramatic embroidery” ( Erskine Childers).
- adj. Characterized by false pathos and sentiment.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Of or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action.
- adj. Exaggeratedly emotional or sentimental.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Of or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to, suitable for, or having the character of melodrama.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. having the excitement and emotional appeal of melodrama
- adj. characteristic of acting or a stage performance; often affected
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
-
The teacher whose cell number you somehow got hold of so you could call her on weekends to discuss your grievances against other students and their parents in melodramatic fashion.
-
The president has made a tic of hammering in melodramatic movie tropes: good vs. evil, you're with us or you're with the terrorists, "wanted dead or alive," "bring 'em on," "mission accomplished."
-
The whole melodrama of the Middle East would be improved if amnesia were as common here as it is in melodramatic plots.
-
On what can you possibly base that scenario, which you yourself call melodramatic? "
-
If we don't include him in events or if we broach the topic of his social behavior, he treats it as a disaster and gets very melodramatic -- in other words, he pulls out all the stops on us!
-
A story of exciting action certainly; it has elements that would ordinarily be called melodramatic -- events which are focussed down into realities against the tremendous background of an incredible war.
-
What one may call the melodramatic Irish story, in which Lever was so brilliantly successful, has its first famous example in _The Collegians_ of Gerald Griffin.
-
Miss Havisham and her protegee, Estella, whom she educates to be the scourge of men, belong to what may be called the melodramatic side of Dickens 'art.
-
Glaucus and Nydia at Pompeii would be called melodramatic rant.
-
Havisham and her _protégée_, Estella, whom she educates to be the scourge of men, belong to what may be called the melodramatic side of
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.