1
as in dramatic
given to or marked by attention-getting behavior suggestive of stage acting
our office drama queen yet again made the melodramatic declaration that he couldn't take it anymore and was quitting
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2
as in theatrical
having the general quality or effect of a stage performance
he gave his usual melodramatic speech that he had learned his lesson and thereafter would always pay his bills on time
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Recent Examples of melodramatic
His fingerprints are all over the 21st-century Big Inventive Novel, with its sentient raindrops (Elif Shafak), its melodramatic families (Kiran Desai), its metamorphoses of race (Mohsin Hamid) and history (Marlon James).
—
Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
There are elements of quite graphic violence, then there’s also quite melodramatic moments, and then there’s also quite funny moments, and then there’s obviously the games themselves.
—Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 2 Nov. 2025
There were stabs at horny lounge jazz, a melodramatic Latin guitar ballad, even a folksy blues number.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2025
If Mercedes’ Marisol were less melodramatic and more in tune with the naturalism of her castmates, this could be a truly masterful staging.
—Rob Hubbard, Twin Cities, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melodramatic
Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2025
There are elements of quite graphic violence, then there’s also quite melodramatic moments, and then there’s also quite funny moments, and then there’s obviously the games themselves.
—Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 2 Nov. 2025
There were stabs at horny lounge jazz, a melodramatic Latin guitar ballad, even a folksy blues number.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2025
If Mercedes’ Marisol were less melodramatic and more in tune with the naturalism of her castmates, this could be a truly masterful staging.
—Rob Hubbard, Twin Cities, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for melodramatic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for melodramatic
Adjective
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Parallel societies in certain urban areas and rising violent crime statistics linked to some migrant cohorts in countries such as Sweden and Germany led to the dramatic rise of populist and patriotic parties across the continent, from France to Italy to the Netherlands.—
Daniel Ross Goodman,
The Washington Examiner,
9 Jan. 2026
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Hudson’s performance kicks into a surprising dramatic gear, the actress’s playful Milwaukee accent settling into a relatively somber key, grappling with dreams dashed.—
David Canfield,
HollywoodReporter,
8 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Meanwhile, shares of fellow theatrical stocks AMC, Cinemark and Marcus Theatres cratered in 2025.—
Sarah Whitten,
CNBC,
9 Jan. 2026
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The city’s storefront followers all saw the show as intense, non-linear, fanciful, Chicago-style experimentation with the de rigeur amount of nudity and a darkly comic soul, but no hope whatsoever of expanding its reach beyond the Midwest theatrical shoebox of its birth.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
9 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Upano’s operatic scope and clean, elegant sentences really swept me off my feet.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Jan. 2026
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That’s fair, for in many ways Venables’s music — with its operatic heights and meditative chants, its detours from classical through bossa nova and Irish jig — is the soul of the thing, revealed in all its richness and variety by the hugely gifted ensemble.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
5 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Melodramatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/melodramatic. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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