dramatic

CEFRB1

/dɹəˈmætɪk/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Very sudden, noticeable, or exciting.
02
adjective
Relating to plays or serious stories.

Examples

Don't take that dramatic attitude all of a sudden.
In music or speaking, a pause is frequently used for dramatic effect.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Having a powerful, expressive singing voice.
Striking in appearance or effect.
Of or relating to the drama.

More examples

In context

The mountains provided a dramatic backdrop for our picnic.
You're not bleeding out; the knife barely scratched your skin. Stop being so dramatic!
a dramatic view of the Alps

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The sudden storm caused a blank change in the temperature outside.

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Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Monteverde found the conditions of dramatic music more favourable to his experiments than those of choral music, in which both voices and ears are at their highest sensibility to discord.
1911, “Music”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
The Orestea is in effect one great single tragedy in three separate parts, each with its own dramatic purpose, yet harmonized by a common inspiration—three great acts of a drama, simple but complex; the whole, as its component members, showing unity of action in rise, crisis, and fall, and progressing in a series of like orderly stages toward a definite dramatic goal.
1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VI. Orestea. I: Agamemnon”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 151
Each year remarkable advances in prenatal medicine bring ever more dramatic confirmation of what common sense told us all along-that the child in the womb is simply what each of us once was: a very young, very small, dependent, vulnerable member of the human family.
1986, Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5430
Poland has made some dramatic gains in education in the past decade.
2013 August 17, “Best and brightest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849
Johns Hopkins laying off more than 2,000 workers after dramatic cut in USAID funding […] Daniels warned in the message that the dramatic cut in USAID funding will result in “impacts to budgets, personnel, and programs.”
2025 March 13, Kaanita Iyer, “Johns Hopkins laying off more than 2,000 workers after dramatic cut in USAID funding”, in edition.cnn.com

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Origin

adjective

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek δρᾱμᾰτῐκός (drāmătĭkós), from δρᾶμα (drâma) + -τικός (-tikós). By surface analysis, drama + -tic.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Quick test

The sudden storm caused a blank— change in the temperature outside.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The sudden storm caused a blank change in the temperature outside.