Dictionary

dramatic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /dɹəˈmætɪk/
• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek δράω (dráō) Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Hellenic *-mə Ancient Greek -μᾰ (-mă) Ancient Greek δρᾶμα (drâma) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Hellenic *-tis Ancient Greek -τῐς (-tĭs) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τος (-tos) ▲ Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) ? Ancient Greek -τικός (-tikós) Ancient Greek δρᾱμᾰτῐκός (drāmătĭkós)bor. Latin drāmaticuslbor. English dramatic Learned borrowing from Latin drāmaticus. By surface analysis, drama + -tic.

Meanings

1. Of or relating to the drama.
   • Monteverde found the conditions of dramatic music more favourable to his experiments than those of choral music, in which both voices and ears are at their highest sensibility to discord. 1911, “Music”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:
   • The Orestea is in effect one great single tragedy in three separate parts, each with its own dramatic purpose, yet harmonized by a common inspiration—three great acts of a drama, simple but complex; the whole, as its component members, showing unity of action in rise, crisis, and fall, and progressing in a series of like orderly stages toward a definite dramatic goal. 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VI. Orestea. I: Agamemnon”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 151:
2. Striking in appearance or effect.
   • a dramatic view of the Alps
   • Poland has made some dramatic gains in education in the past decade. 2013 August 17, “Best and brightest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849:
   • Each year remarkable advances in prenatal medicine bring ever more dramatic confirmation of what common sense told us all along-that the child in the womb is simply what each of us once was: a very young, very small, dependent, vulnerable member of the human family. 1986, Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5430:
   • Johns Hopkins laying off more than 2,000 workers after dramatic cut in USAID funding […] Daniels warned in the message that the dramatic cut in USAID funding will result in “impacts to budgets, personnel, and programs.” 2025 March 13, Kaanita Iyer, “Johns Hopkins laying off more than 2,000 workers after dramatic cut in USAID funding”, in edition.cnn.com:
3. Having a powerful, expressive singing voice.
4. (informal) Tending to exaggerate in order to get attention.
   • You're not bleeding out; the knife barely scratched your skin. Stop being so dramatic!

Forms

Deriveds

dramatic license · dramatic structure · dramatic present · metadramatic · teledramatic · superdramatic · hyperdramatic · dramaticomusical · dramaticness · dramatically · undramatic · theodramatic · dramatic irony · photodramatic · underdramatic · overdramatic · postdramatic · microdramatic · dramatic soprano · nondramatic · dramaticism · musicodramatic · protodramatic · pseudodramatic · dramastic · semidramatic · monodramatic · cyberdramatic · Dramatic Prakrit · dramaticity · sociodramatic · dramatic unity · psychodramatic · antidramatic · dramatism · dramaticule · dramatic beat

Descendants

ドラマティック

Translations (56)

es asombroso (striking in appearance or effect) · pt dramático (of or relating to the drama) · fi dramaattinen (striking in appearance or effect) · fi draamallinen (of or relating to the drama) · ro dramatic (of or relating to the drama) · nb dramatisk (striking in appearance or effect) · da dramatisk (striking in appearance or effect) · fr dramatique (of or relating to the drama) · he דְּרָמָטִי (striking in appearance or effect) · uk драмати́чний (striking in appearance or effect) · eo drama (of or relating to the drama) · yi דראַמאַטיש (of or relating to the drama) · fi dramaattinen (having a powerful, expressive singing voice) · ja ドラマティック (striking in appearance or effect) · tr dramatik (striking in appearance or effect) · hy դրամատիկական (striking in appearance or effect) · pt assombroso (striking in appearance or effect) · nb dramatisk (of or relating to the drama) · gl dramático (striking in appearance or effect) · fr spectaculaire (striking in appearance or effect) · ti ድራማዊ (of or relating to the drama) · bg драматичен (having a powerful, expressive singing voice) · cmn 戲劇的 /戏剧的 (of or relating to the drama) · nl dramatisch (of or relating to the drama) · pl dramatyczny (of or relating to the drama) · nn dramatisk (striking in appearance or effect) · gl dramático (of or relating to the drama) · ko 극적 (striking in appearance or effect) · ko 극적 (of or relating to the drama) · it radicale (striking in appearance or effect) · uk драмати́чний (of or relating to the drama) · ja 劇的 (striking in appearance or effect) · hu drámai (of or relating to the drama) · hy դրամատիկական (of or relating to the drama) · ru драмати́ческий (of or relating to the drama) · cmn 戲劇性的 /戏剧性的 (striking in appearance or effect) · nl dramatisch (striking in appearance or effect) · it drammatico (of or relating to the drama) · bg драматичен (striking in appearance or effect) · pt dramático (striking in appearance or effect) · nn dramatisk (of or relating to the drama) · de dramatisch (striking in appearance or effect) · sv dramatisk (striking in appearance or effect) · hy դրամատիկ (of or relating to the drama) · fr dramatique (striking in appearance or effect) · hu drámai (striking in appearance or effect) · ru драмати́чный (striking in appearance or effect) · tr dramatik (of or relating to the drama) · cs dramatický (of or relating to the drama) · bg драматичен (of or relating to the drama) · de dramatisch (of or relating to the drama) · sv dramatisk (of or relating to the drama) · ca dramàtic (of or relating to the drama) · da dramatisk (of or relating to the drama) · hy դրամատիկական (having a powerful, expressive singing voice) · es dramático (of or relating to the drama)