music drama

noun

: an opera in which the action is not interrupted by formal song divisions (such as recitatives or arias) and the music is determined solely by dramatic appropriateness

Examples of music drama in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
There's not a lot of volume this week, but quality is high, with the final season premiere of Hacks, a compelling Japanese music drama, and some very watchable movies. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 3 Apr. 2026 Hudson was nominated only one time previously, for the 2000 music drama Almost Famous. — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 11 Mar. 2026 The 20th Century Studios biographical music drama stars Jeremy Allen White as rock legend Bruce Springsteen. — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 21 Aug. 2025 Figueroa has served as an executive story editor and staffed on series including Stumptown (ABC), Defiance (Syfy), and the Starz music drama, Step Up. — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 9 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for music drama

Word History

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of music drama was in 1874

Rhymes for music drama

See All Rhymes for music drama

Browse Nearby Words

music director
music drama
music gallery
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Music drama.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/music%20drama. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on music drama

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about music drama

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All