Melodramatic Meaning
/ˌmɛl.ə.dɹəˈmæt.ɪk/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action.
adjExaggeratedly emotional or sentimental.
Sentence Examples
Don't be so melodramatic.
Don't you think you're being a bit melodramatic?
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
His weeping over a lost pen was ____, drawing stares from everyone.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Her reaction to the small problem was quite ____, as if it were the absolute end of the world.
Word Origin & History
From melodrama + -tic. Modelled after dramatic.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Dearest Eloise,— There is one little and perhaps insignificant French cake, which I feel certain would soon become a favourite in the cottage, more particularly amongst its juvenile inhabitants. It is the famed galette, the melodramatic food of the gamins, galopins, mechanics, and semi-artists of France."
— 1854, Alexis [Benoît] Soyer, A Shilling Cookery for the People: Embracing an Entirely New System of Plain Cookery and Domestic Economy, London, New York, N.Y.: George Routledge & Co., →OCLC, page 125:
"In it, the officer insisted he did not depart from NCND and gave a melodramatic account of my "long pauses" as I said I needed the story, before I eventually became cooperative and said I had "seen the light"."
— 2025 July 6, Daniel De Simone, “How MI5 piled falsehood on falsehood in court in the case of a spy who abused women”, in BBC News, retrieved 06 Jul 2025:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
His weeping over a lost pen was ____, drawing stares from everyone.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Her reaction to the small problem was quite ____, as if it were the absolute end of the world.