Noun

(en noun)

Something that thrills.

*{{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=December 29 , author=Paul Doyle , title=Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle , work=The Guardian citation , page= , passage=While Arsenal had enjoyed a Boxing Day break thanks to the cancellation of their game against West Ham, Newcastle had come out of the wrong end of a thriller at Old Trafford and Pardew said that strain accounted for his side conceding four goals at the Emirates after Demba Ba had drawn Newcastle level for the third time in the 69th minute.}}

(chiefly) A suspenseful, sensational genre of story, book, play or film.

Noun

(archaic, uncountable) A kind of drama having a musical accompaniment to intensify the effect of certain scenes.

(countable) A drama abounding in romantic sentiment and agonizing situations, with a musical accompaniment only in parts which are especially thrilling or pathetic. In opera, a passage in which the orchestra plays a somewhat descriptive accompaniment, while the actor speaks; as, the melodrama in the grave digging scene of Beethoven's "Fidelio".

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(uncountable, figuratively, colloquial) Any situation or action which is blown out of proportion.