soap opera

Noun

soap opera (countable and uncountable, plural soap operas)

1. (countable) A radio or television serial, typically broadcast in the afternoon or evening, about the lives of melodramatic characters, which are often filled with strong emotions, highly dramatic situations and suspense.
   • This chapter considers the growing interest in the popular Welsh-language soap opera, Pobol Y Cwm (People of the Valley), and the extent to which discourses of Welshness and definitions of cultural and national identity contribute to the appeal and longevity of the soap.2002, Robert C. Allen, To Be Continued...: Soap Operas Around the World, Routledge, →ISBN, page 81
   • It also followed the very successful long-running soap opera, Neighbours.2014, Frank J. Lechner, John Boli, The Globalization Reader, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 393

   Synonyms:

   soap, daytime serial, story, serial, teleserye, telenovela, sinetron

2. (uncountable) Such serials in general.
3. (broadly) Any story that is like a soap opera, as by being convoluted or melodramatic.
   • Salal invented some soap opera about a mystery informant, and Meg sold it to the cops.1989 May 6, Liz Galst, “Meet Meg Lacey, Private Heat”, in Gay Community News, page 7
   • An' just lookit how things turned out! What a complete and utter soap opera2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport