melodrama
['melәu,drɑ:mә]
n. 音剧, 传奇剧, 剧似件



melodrama
[ noun ]
an extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization
<noun.communication>




Melodrama \Mel`o*dra"ma\, n. [F. m['e]lodrame, fr. Gr. me`los
song + dra^ma 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 ``Fidelio''.


Drama \Dra"ma\ (dr[aum]"m[.a] or dr[=a]"m[.a]; 277), n. [L.
drama, Gr. dra^ma, fr. dra^n 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.