drama

drama
    n 1: a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a
         stage; "he wrote several plays but only one was produced on
         Broadway" [syn: {play}, {drama}, {dramatic play}]
    2: an episode that is turbulent or highly emotional [syn:
       {drama}, {dramatic event}]
    3: the literary genre of works intended for the theater
    4: the quality of being arresting or highly emotional
    

Drama \Dra"ma\ (dr[aum]"m[.a] or dr[=a]"m[.a]; 277), n. [L.
   drama, Gr. dra^ma, fr. dra^n to do, act; cf. Lith. daryti.]
   1. A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action,
      and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to
      depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than
      ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It
      is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by
      actors on the stage.
      [1913 Webster]

            A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon.
                                                  --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and
      interest. "The drama of war." --Thackeray.
      [1913 Webster]

            Westward the course of empire takes its way;
            The four first acts already past,
            A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
            Time's noblest offspring is the last. --Berkeley.
      [1913 Webster]

            The drama and contrivances of God's providence.
                                                  --Sharp.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or
      illustrating it; dramatic literature.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: The principal species of the drama are {tragedy} and
         {comedy}; inferior species are {tragi-comedy},
         {melodrama}, {operas}, {burlettas}, and {farces}.
         [1913 Webster]

   {The romantic drama}, the kind of drama whose aim is to
      present a tale or history in scenes, and whose plays (like
      those of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others) are stories
      told in dialogue by actors on the stage. --J. A. Symonds.
      Dramatic
    

185 Moby Thesaurus words for "drama":
      Broadway, Grand Guignol, Passion play, Tom show, acting, alphabet,
      antimasque, art, audience success, ballet, blueprint, boards, bomb,
      broadcast drama, burlesque, burlesque show, carnival, charactering,
      characterization, charade, chart, choreography, circus,
      cliff hanger, closet drama, comedy drama,
      conventional representation, critical success, dance notation,
      daytime serial, delineation, demonstration, depiction, depictment,
      diagram, dialogue, documentary drama, dramalogue, dramatic art,
      dramatic play, dramatic series, dramatics, dramaturgy, drawing,
      duodrama, duologue, entertainment industry, epic theater,
      exemplification, experimental theater, extravaganza, failure,
      figuration, flop, footlights, gasser, giveaway, happening,
      hieroglyphic, histrionics, hit, hit show, iconography, ideogram,
      illustration, imagery, imaging, improvisational drama, legit,
      legitimate drama, legitimate stage, letter, limning, logogram,
      logograph, map, masque, melodrama, minstrel show, miracle,
      miracle play, monodrama, monologue, morality, morality play,
      music drama, musical notation, musical revue, mystery,
      mystery play, notation, off Broadway, off-off-Broadway, opera,
      pageant, panel show, pantomime, pastoral, pastoral drama,
      photoplay, pictogram, picturization, piece, plan, play, playland,
      playlet, portraiture, portrayal, prefigurement, presentment,
      printing, problem play, projection, psychodrama, quiz show,
      radio drama, realization, rendering, rendition, repertory drama,
      representation, review, revue, scenario, schema, score, script,
      sensational play, serial, show, show biz, show business, sitcom,
      situation comedy, sketch, skit, soap, soap opera, sociodrama,
      spectacle, stage play, stage show, stage world, stagecraft,
      stagedom, stageland, stock, straight drama, strawhat,
      strawhat circuit, success, summer stock, suspense drama, syllabary,
      symbol, tablature, tableau, tableau vivant, talk show, teleplay,
      television drama, television play, the boards, the footlights,
      the scenes, the stage, the theater, theater, theater of cruelty,
      theater world, theatre, theatricalism, theatrics, theatromania,
      theatrophobia, total theater, variety, variety show, vaudeville,
      vaudeville show, vehicle, word-of-mouth success, work, writing