melodramatic

[ mel-uh-druh-mat-ik ]

adjective

1. of, like, or befitting melodrama.
2. exaggerated and emotional or sentimental; sensational or sensationalized; overdramatic.

noun

1. melodramatics, melodramatic writing or behavior.

Other Words From

• melo·dra·mati·cal·ly adverb
• nonmel·o·dra·matic adjective
• nonmel·o·dra·mati·cal·ly adverb
• unmel·o·dra·matic adjective
• unmel·o·dra·mati·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of melodramatic¹

First recorded in 1810–20; melodrama + (drama)tic

Example Sentences

Brushing off children’s ecological grief as melodramatic—or trying to cheer them up by changing the subject—sends the message that the situation isn’t dire or even that nature isn’t worth saving.

From Outside Online

Having been the senior obituary writer for the New York Times, Fox long ago learned the reader-appealing usefulness of the melodramatic sentence and weird anecdote.

From Washington Post

That countersuit, filed this week, is the written version of Lindell’s “documentaries,” melodramatic, glitchy, sweeping and deeply flawed in both obvious and non-obvious ways.

From Washington Post

Yes, a few melodramatic moments disrupt the naturalism midway through the season, and the choice to tease the revelation of an assailant’s identity by repeatedly placing them just outside the frame is a bit cheap.

From Time

If that seems melodramatic, perhaps you haven’t been awake this past year, when the way the world is designed became more crucial than ever.

From Ozy

As exuberant as I tend to be, I did feel “knight” would be too melodramatic.

From The Daily Beast

But to say the capital teeters on the verge of collapse is both melodramatic and misleading.

From The Daily Beast

And sports, if anything, just serves as a way to act out this competition on a more melodramatic stage.

From The Daily Beast

But even paranoid melodramatic self-aggrandizers sniff out nefarious and tentacular plots from time to time.

From The Daily Beast

The book is gritty without being noir, touching without being melodramatic.

From The Daily Beast

Here was a melodramatic scene in which he not only was not playing a leading part, but did not even carry a banner.

From Project Gutenberg

That is one of the melodramatic bits, said Bobby, weakly, leaning against the wall for support.

From Project Gutenberg

I know nothing more melodramatic than certain of the plots of Shakespeare's plays.

From Project Gutenberg

Will anyone suggest to me the marriage of a girl of seventeen with a man over sixty is melodramatic.

From Project Gutenberg

The tales are told with a calmness and reserve that make most of Poe's seem somewhat boyish and melodramatic by comparison.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• theatrical