Drama Simply Means an Action Performed
Dramas are serious plays or emotional situations. The Greek word means a deed, and dramatic once meant enacted rather than exciting.
Dramas are plays or serious stories, and in loose use emotional upheavals. The Greek *drama* means a deed or action performed, from *dran*, to do. That original sense explains why *dramatic* first meant belonging to a play, and only later came to mean striking. A drama was simply something enacted rather than narrated.
- Serious plays or stories. *Television dramas.*
- Emotional upheaval. *Endless dramas.*
- The art form. *A degree in drama.*
- Drama queen — someone who exaggerates. *Do not be a drama queen.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | drama | A period drama. |
| Plural | dramas | Several dramas. |
| Adjective | dramatic | A dramatic entrance. |
| Verb | dramatise | Dramatise the novel. |
| Person | dramatist | A young dramatist. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The channel commissions original dramas.Television.
- Dramatic irony is a technical term.When the audience knows what a character does not.
- Spare me the drama.Informal: the emotional display.
Dramatic terms
- Dramatic irony — the audience knows what a character does not
- Soliloquy — a character speaking their thoughts alone
- Aside — a remark to the audience the other characters do not hear
- Deus ex machina — an unexpected outside resolution
- Catharsis — the emotional release Aristotle attributed to tragedy
From Greek *drama*, a deed or play, from *dran*, to do or act. The plural *dramas* follows the English pattern.
What is dramatic irony?
When the audience knows something a character does not, so their words carry a meaning they cannot see.
Dramas or dramata?
Dramas. The Greek plural is not used in English for this word.