dramatic

dramatic

See also: dramàtic

English

Alternative forms

• dramatick

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δραματικός (dramatikós), from δρᾶμα (drâma, “drama, play”), from δράω (dráō, “I do, accomplish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɹəˈmætɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

dramatic (comparative more dramatic, superlative most dramatic)

1. Of or relating to the drama.
   • 1911, “Music”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:

     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.

2. Striking in appearance or effect.
   • 1986, Ronald Reagan, Proclamation 5430:

     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.

   • 2013 August 17, “Best and brightest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849:

     Poland has made some dramatic gains in education in the past decade. Before 2000 half of the country’s rural adults had finished only primary school. Yet international rankings now put the country’s students well ahead of America’s in science and maths (the strongest predictor of future earnings), even as the country spends far less per pupil.

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!

Derived terms

• dramatic beat
• dramatic irony
• dramatic present
• dramatic structure
• nondramatic

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: ドラマティック (doramatikku)

Translations

of or relating to the drama

Armenian: դրամատիկական (hy) (dramatikakan), դրամատիկ (hy) (dramatik) Bulgarian: драматичен (dramatičen) Catalan: dramàtic Chinese: Mandarin: 戲劇的／戏剧的 (xìjù de) Czech: dramatický (cs) Dutch: dramatisch (nl) Finnish: draamallinen French: dramatique (fr) Galician: dramático German: dramatisch (de) Hungarian: drámai (hu) Italian: drammatico (it) Korean: 극적(劇的) (ko) (geukjeok) Polish: dramatyczny (pl) Portuguese: dramático (pt) Romanian: dramatic (ro) Russian: драмати́ческий (ru) (dramatíčeskij) Spanish: dramático (es) Tigrinya: ድራማዊ (dəramawi) Turkish: dramatik (tr) Ukrainian: драмати́чний (dramatýčnyj) Yiddish: דראַמאַטיש‎ (dramatish)

striking in appearance or effect

Armenian: դրամատիկական (hy) (dramatikakan) Bulgarian: драматичен (dramatičen) Chinese: Mandarin: 戲劇性的／戏剧性的 (xìjùxìng de) Finnish: dramaattinen (fi) French: spectaculaire (fr), dramatique (fr) Galician: dramático German: dramatisch (de) Hebrew: דרמתי‎ (dramati) Hungarian: drámai (hu) Italian: radicale (it) Japanese: 劇的 (ja) (gekiteki), ドラマティック (ja) (doramatikku) Korean: 극적(劇的) (ko) (geukjeok) Portuguese: dramático (pt), assombroso (pt) Russian: драмати́чный (ru) (dramatíčnyj) Spanish: asombroso (es) Swedish: dramatisk (sv) Turkish: dramatik (tr) Ukrainian: драмати́чний (dramatýčnyj)

having a powerful, expressive singing voice

Armenian: դրամատիկական (hy) (dramatikakan) Bulgarian: драматичен (dramatičen) Finnish: dramaattinen (fi)

Further reading

• "dramatic" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 109.

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Romanian

Etymology

From French dramatique, from Latin dramaticus. Equivalent to dramă +‎ -atic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /draˈma.tik/

Adjective

dramatic m or n (feminine singular dramatică, masculine plural dramatici, feminine and neuter plural dramatice)

1. dramatic

Declension

Declension of dramatic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	dramatic		dramatică	dramatici	dramatice
	definite	dramaticul		dramatica	dramaticii	dramaticele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	dramatic		dramatice	dramatici	dramatice
	definite	dramaticului		dramaticei	dramaticilor	dramaticelor

Further reading

• dramatic in DEX online - Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)