Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Drama

Drama (dra"mȧ or drā"mȧ; 277) , noun

[Latin drama, Greek dra^ma, from dra^n to do, act; compare Lithuanian 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.

Collocations (1)
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