Function: noun
Etymology: from its sponsorship by soap manufacturers
Date: 1939
1 a : a serial drama performed orig. on a daytime radio or television program and chiefly characterized by tangled interpersonal situations and melodramatic or sentimental treatment b : a series of real-life events resembling a soap opera
2 : the melodrama and sentimentality characteristic of a soap opera <even cops need a little soap opera in their lives ― Joseph Wambaugh> also : something (as a novel) having such qualities
– soap-op · er · at · ic \ ' s ō p- ˌ ä-p ə - ' ra-tik \ adjective