DRAMA

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does drama mean? 

• DRAMA (noun)
  The noun DRAMA has 4 senses:

1. a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage

2. an episode that is turbulent or highly emotional

3. the literary genre of works intended for the theater

4. the quality of being arresting or highly emotional

  Familiarity information: DRAMA used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRAMA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

drama; dramatic play; play

Context example:

he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway

Hypernyms ("drama" is a kind of...):

dramatic composition; dramatic work (a play for performance on the stage or television or in a movie etc.)

Meronyms (parts of "drama"):

act (a subdivision of a play or opera or ballet)

stage direction (an instruction written as part of the script of a play)

Domain category:

drama (the literary genre of works intended for the theater)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drama"):

Grand Guignol (a play of a macabre or horrific nature)

theater of the absurd (plays stressing the irrational or illogical aspects of life, usually to show that modern life is pointless)

playlet (a short play)

miracle play (a medieval play representing episodes from the life of a saint or martyr)

morality play (an allegorical play popular in the 15th and 16th centuries; characters personified virtues and vices)

mystery play (a medieval play representing episodes from the life of Christ)

Passion play (a play representing the Passion of Christ)

satyr play (an ancient Greek burlesque with a chorus of satyrs)

Derivation:

dramatise (represent something in a dramatic manner)

dramatize (put into dramatic form)

dramatize (represent something in a dramatic manner)

dramatist (someone who writes plays)

dramatise (put into dramatic form)

dramatic (pertaining to or characteristic of drama)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An episode that is turbulent or highly emotional

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

drama; dramatic event

Hypernyms ("drama" is a kind of...):

episode (a happening that is distinctive in a series of related events)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drama"):

night terror (an emotional episode (usually in young children) in which the person awakens in terror with feelings of anxiety and fear but is unable to remember any incident that might have provoked those feelings)

Derivation:

dramatic (suitable to or characteristic of drama)

dramatic (sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect)

dramatise (represent something in a dramatic manner)

dramatize (add details to)

dramatize (represent something in a dramatic manner)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The literary genre of works intended for the theater

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("drama" is a kind of...):

genre; literary genre; writing style (a style of expressing yourself in writing)

Domain member category:

tragicomic (of or relating to or characteristic of tragicomedy)

comic (of or relating to or characteristic of comedy)

tragic (of or relating to or characteristic of tragedy)

unappealing; unlikable; unlikeable; unsympathetic ((of characters in literature or drama) tending to evoke antipathetic feelings)

black humor; black humour (the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements (in writing or drama) to give a disturbing effect)

drama; dramatic play; play (a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage)

warhorse (a work of art (composition or drama) that is part of the standard repertory but has become hackneyed from much repetition)

appealing; likable; likeable; sympathetic ((of characters in literature or drama) evoking empathic or sympathetic feelings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drama"):

closet drama (drama more suitable for reading that for performing)

comedy (light and humorous drama with a happy ending)

tragedy (drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity)

Derivation:

dramatic (pertaining to or characteristic of drama)

dramatise (represent something in a dramatic manner)

dramatise (put into dramatic form)

dramatist (someone who writes plays)

dramatize (represent something in a dramatic manner)

dramatize (put into dramatic form)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quality of being arresting or highly emotional

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("drama" is a kind of...):

emotionalism; emotionality (emotional nature or quality)

Attribute:

dramatic (suitable to or characteristic of drama)

undramatic (lacking dramatic force and quality)

Derivation:

dramatize; dramatise (represent something in a dramatic manner)

 Context examples 

You will now be present at the last scene of a remarkable little drama.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Imagine Mr. Butler living up to social etiquette and enunciating his views on Paul Verlaine or the German drama or the novels of D'Annunzio.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“He has played a not unimportant part in this drama,” said he.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fresh scandals have eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the gossips away from this four-year-old drama.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Whether it ever rises again, depends upon the reception given the first act of the domestic drama called Little Women.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then we had very different things to think of, for an active drama was in progress.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He sat for some little time in silence, absorbed in the strange drama which had broken in upon our peace.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Forms of creative activity that involve performance before an audience (e.g., drama, dance, music).

(Performing Arts, NCI Thesaurus)

And now how was I to proceed to reconstruct this midnight drama?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The talk wandered from Mrs. Humphry Ward's new book to Shaw's latest play, through the future of the drama to reminiscences of Mansfield.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)