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melodrama

[mel-uh-drah-muh, -dram-uh] / ˈmɛl əˌdrɑ mə, -ˌdræm ə /
NOUN
bathos
Synonyms
Antonyms
STRONG




NOUN
dramatization
Synonyms














Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By contrast, John M. Stahl’s stupendous 1939 melodrama “When Tomorrow Comes”—with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in a labor-relations tale turned hurricane-beset, star-crossed love story—was in sparkling black and white.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026

This is a cat and mouse — or cats and mice — melodrama, with customized stock characters given dark secrets and backstory traumas less as explanation than complication.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026

Had Brontë survived past 30, she might have worked yet-greater literary marvels, but as it is she left us with “Wuthering Heights,” a bravura work of melodrama published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

In Bengal, the form flourished in jatra - a rural, open-air spectacle of music, myth and melodrama that often rivalled cinema in reach, though not in rewards.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

I don’t wish to reach for melodrama, but people have died in less trying circumstances.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson




Vocabulary lists containing melodrama


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