melodrama

n. [ F. mélodrame, fr. Gr. me`los song + dra^ma drama. ] Formerly, a kind of drama having a musical accompaniment to intensify the effect of certain scenes. Now, a drama abounding in romantic sentiment and agonizing situations, with a musical accompaniment only in parts which are especially thrilling or pathetic. In opera, a passage in which the orchestra plays a somewhat descriptive accompaniment, while the actor speaks; as, the melodrama in the gravedigging scene of Beethoven's “Fidelio”. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. mélodramatique. ] Of or pertaining to melodrama; like or suitable to a melodrama; unnatural in situation or action. -- Mel`o*dra*mat"ic*al*ly adv. [1913 Webster]