n. 1 a sensational dramatic piece with crude appeals to the emotions and usu. a happy ending. 2 the genre of drama of this type. 3 language, behaviour, or an occurrence suggestive of this. 4 hist. a play with songs interspersed and with orchestral music accompanying the action. melodramatic adj. melodramatically adv. melodramatist n. melodramatize v.tr. (also -ise).
[ earlier melodrame f. F mélodrame f. Gk melos music + F drame DRAMA ]