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Definition of "melodramatic" []

  • Having the excitement and emotional appeal of melodrama: "a melodramatic account of two perilous days spent among the planters” ( Frank O. Gatell). (adjective)
  • Exaggeratedly emotional or sentimental; histrionic: "Accuse me, if you will, of melodramatic embroidery” ( Erskine Childers). (adjective)
  • Characterized by false pathos and sentiment. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "melodramatic" in a sentence
  • "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."