Dra"ma [L. drama, Gr. , fr. 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.
A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon.
Milton.
2.
A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest.
"The
drama of war."
Thackeray.
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.
The drama and contrivances of God's providence.
Sharp.
3.
Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it; dramatic literature.
⇒ The principal species of the drama are tragedy and comedy; inferior species are tragi-comedy, melodrama, operas, burlettas, and farces.
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.
© Webster 1913.