1.nounA kind of drama having a musical accompaniment to intensify the effect of certain scenes.
2.nounA 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
"the melodrama in the grave digging scene of Beethoven's "Fidelio"."
3.nounAny situation or action which is blown out of proportion.