soap opera

noun

1

a

: a serial drama performed originally 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 (such as a novel) having such qualities

soap-operatic

ˈsōp-ˌä-pə-ˈra-tik 

adjective

Synonyms

• corn
• goo
• mush
• schmaltz
• schmalz
• sludge
• slush
• sorghum

Examples of soap opera in a Sentence

She loves to watch daytime soap operas.

the movie started out well, but quickly devolved into improbable soap opera

Recent Examples on the Web

The teen soap opera, in which a newly pretty girl played by Lola Tung finds herself in a love triangle with two brothers who happen to have been family friends for her entire life, is coming to a close after three seasons. —Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 2 May 2025

After three years on the popular soap opera, the 34-year-old actress revealed her time as Summer Newman will be coming to an end this week. —Liza Esquibias, People.com, 30 Apr. 2025

Here was a woman whose life read like something out of a soap opera. —Hazlitt, 30 Apr. 2025

The 36th movie in this ongoing, omnipresent pop soap opera is wildly uneven. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 29 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

from its sponsorship by soap manufacturers

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

soap opera

noun

: a radio or television drama presented in a series of continuing stories and characters and intended to appeal to the emotions

Etymology

so called because the advertisers on these programs were usually soap manufacturers