Adjacent Words

melodramatic definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having the excitement and emotional appeal of melodrama; "a melodramatic account of two perilous days at sea"
2: characteristic of acting or a stage performance; often affected; "histrionic gestures"; "an attitude of melodramatic despair"; "a theatrical pose" [syn: histrionic, melodramatic]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1808 1. of, relating to, or characteristic of melodrama 2. appealing to the emotions ; sensational Synonyms: see dramatic • melodramatically adverb

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Melodramatic Mel`o*dra*mat"ic, a. [Cf. F. m['e]lodramatique.] Of or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action. -- Mel`o*dra*mat"ic*al*ly, adv.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Melodramatic behaviour is behaviour in which someone treats a situation as much more serious than it really is. 'Don't you think you're being rather melodramatic?' Jane asked... ADJ • melodramatically 'For God's sake,' Michael said melodramatically, 'Whatever you do, don't look down.' ADV: ADV with v

Moby Thesaurus

Barnumesque, actor-proof, all-star, ballet, balletic, cinematic, cinematographic, cloak-and-dagger, dramatic, dramatical, dramaturgic, emotionalistic, emotive, exaggerated, film, filmic, ham, hammy, histrionic, hokey, hysteric, legitimate, lurid, milked, monodramatic, movie, nonrational, operatic, overacted, overdone, overdrawn, overemotional, overplayed, overworked, overwrought, scenic, schmaltzy, sensational, sensationalistic, spectacular, spine-chilling, stagelike, stageworthy, stagy, starstruck, stellar, theaterlike, theatrical, thespian, thrown away, underacted, underplayed, unreasoning, vaudevillian, yellow