Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Romantic \Ro*man"tic\, a. [F. romantique, fr. OF. romant. See
{Romance}.]
1. Of or pertaining to romance; involving or resembling
romance; hence, fanciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal;
as, a romantic tale; a romantic notion; a romantic
undertaking.
Can anything in nature be imagined more profane and
impious, more absurd, and undeed romantic, than such
a persuasion? --South.
Zeal for the good of one's country a party of men
have represented as chimerical and romantic.
--Addison.
2. Entertaining ideas and expectations suited to a romance;
as, a romantic person; a romantic mind.
3. Of or pertaining to the style of the Christian and popular
literature of the Middle Ages, as opposed to the classical
antique; of the nature of, or appropriate to, that style;
as, the romantic school of poets.
4. Characterized by strangeness or variety; suggestive of
adventure; suited to romance; wild; picturesque; --
applied to scenery; as, a romantic landscape.
Syn: Sentimental; fanciful; fantastic; fictitious;
extravagant; wild; chimerical. See {Sentimental}.
{The romantic drama}. See under {Drama}.
Drama \Dra"ma\ (?; 277), n. [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.
Note: 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.