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Definitions

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melodrama
1. n. (archaic) A kind of drama having a musical accompaniment to intensify the effect of certain scenes.
2. n. 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 play
the melodrama in the grave digging scene of Beethoven's "Fidelio".
3. n. (figuratively, colloquial) Any situation or action which is blown out of proportion.

Example Sentences

There was no melodrama about it.  At times the novel risks melodrama, with tales of a child losing his hands through gangrene, or a father who unwittingly kills his entire family with stolen corn laced with rat poison.

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