Adjacent Words

Drama definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DRAMA, n. [Gr., to make.] A poem or composition representing a picture of human life, and accommodated to action. The principal species of the drama are tragedy and comedy; inferior species are tragi-comedy, opera, etc.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage; "he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway" [syn: play, drama, dramatic play]
2: an episode that is turbulent or highly emotional [syn: drama, dramatic event]
3: the literary genre of works intended for the theater
4: the quality of being arresting or highly emotional

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Late Latin dramat-, drama, from Greek, deed, drama, from dran to do, act Date: 1515 1. a. a composition in verse or prose intended to portray life or character or to tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through action and dialogue and typically designed for theatrical performance ; play — compare closet drama b. a movie or television production with characteristics (as conflict) of a serious play; broadly a play, movie, or television production with a serious tone or subject <a police drama> 2. dramatic art, literature, or affairs 3. a. a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces b. dramatic state, effect, or quality <the drama of the courtroom proceedings>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a play for acting on stage or for broadcasting. 2 (often prec. by the) the art of writing and presenting plays. 3 an exciting or emotional event, set of circumstances, etc. 4 dramatic quality (the drama of the situation). Etymology: LL f. Gk drama -atos f. drao do

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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. ``The drama of war.'' --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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dramas) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A drama is a serious play for the theatre, television, or radio. He acted in radio dramas. N-COUNT 2. You use drama to refer to plays in general or to work that is connected with plays and the theatre, such as acting or producing. He knew nothing of Greek drama... She met him when she was at drama school. 3. You can refer to a real situation which is exciting or distressing as drama. There was none of the drama and relief of a hostage release... N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Dramatic composition, play, theatrical piece, spectacle. 2. Dramatic literature. 3. Historic or cosmical pageant (series of events invested with dramatic unity). 4. The stage, dramatic representation, histrionic art.

Moby Thesaurus

Broadway, Grand Guignol, Passion play, Tom show, acting, alphabet, antimasque, art, audience success, ballet, blueprint, boards, bomb, broadcast drama, burlesque, burlesque show, carnival, charactering, characterization, charade, chart, choreography, circus, cliff hanger, closet drama, comedy drama, conventional representation, critical success, dance notation, daytime serial, delineation, demonstration, depiction, depictment, diagram, dialogue, documentary drama, dramalogue, dramatic art, dramatic play, dramatic series, dramatics, dramaturgy, drawing, duodrama, duologue, entertainment industry, epic theater, exemplification, experimental theater, extravaganza, failure, figuration, flop, footlights, gasser, giveaway, happening, hieroglyphic, histrionics, hit, hit show, iconography, ideogram, illustration, imagery, imaging, improvisational drama, legit, legitimate drama, legitimate stage, letter, limning, logogram, logograph, map, masque, melodrama, minstrel show, miracle, miracle play, monodrama, monologue, morality, morality play, music drama, musical notation, musical revue, mystery, mystery play, notation, off Broadway, off-off-Broadway, opera, pageant, panel show, pantomime, pastoral, pastoral drama, photoplay, pictogram, picturization, piece, plan, play, playland, playlet, portraiture, portrayal, prefigurement, presentment, printing, problem play, projection, psychodrama, quiz show, radio drama, realization, rendering, rendition, repertory drama, representation, review, revue, scenario, schema, score, script, sensational play, serial, show, show biz, show business, sitcom, situation comedy, sketch, skit, soap, soap opera, sociodrama, spectacle, stage play, stage show, stage world, stagecraft, stagedom, stageland, stock, straight drama, strawhat, strawhat circuit, success, summer stock, suspense drama, syllabary, symbol, tablature, tableau, tableau vivant, talk show, teleplay, television drama, television play, the boards, the footlights, the scenes, the stage, the theater, theater, theater of cruelty, theater world, theatre, theatricalism, theatrics, theatromania, theatrophobia, total theater, variety, variety show, vaudeville, vaudeville show, vehicle, word-of-mouth success, work, writing