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dramatic

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: dramàtic

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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,[1] borrowed from Ancient Greek δρᾱμᾰτῐκός (drāmătĭkós), from δρᾶμα (drâma) + -τικός (-tikós). By surface analysis, drama + -tic.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /dɹəˈmætɪk/
    • Audio (US):(file)

    Adjective

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    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.
      • 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VI. Orestea. I: Agamemnon”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 151:
        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.
    2. Striking in appearance or effect.
      a dramatic view of the Alps
      • 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.
      • 2025 March 13, Kaanita Iyer, “Johns Hopkins laying off more than 2,000 workers after dramatic cut in USAID funding”, in edition.cnn.com‎[1], archived from the original on 20 May 2025:
        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.”
    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

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    Descendants

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    • → Japanese: ドラマティック (doramatikku)

    Translations

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    References

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    1. ^ “dramatic, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

    Further reading

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    Romanian

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    Etymology

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

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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

    1. dramatic

    Declension

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    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

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