soap opera

From the soap and detergent commercials originally broadcast during the shows, which were aimed at the audience of women who were doing their cleaning; opera from the melodramatic character of the shows, as the earlier horse opera.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɚ.ə/, /ˈsoʊp ˌɑ.pɹə/

• Audio (General American):

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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.

   Synonyms: (colloquial) soap, daytime serial, (colloquial, dated) story, (India) serial, (Philippines) teleserye, (particularly Latin America) telenovela, (Indonesia) sinetron

   Coordinate term: telenovela

   • 2002, Robert C. Allen, To Be Continued...: Soap Operas Around the World, Routledge, →ISBN, page 81:

     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.

   • 2014, Frank J. Lechner, John Boli, The Globalization Reader, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 393:

     It also followed the very successful long-running soap opera, Neighbours.

2. (uncountable) Such serials in general.
3. (by extension) Any story that is like a soap opera, as by being convoluted or melodramatic.
   • 1989 May 6, Liz Galst, “Meet Meg Lacey, Private Heat”, in Gay Community News, page 7:

     Salal invented some soap opera about a mystery informant, and Meg sold it to the cops.

   • 2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport:

     An' just lookit how things turned out! What a complete and utter soap opera

• → German: Seifenoper (calque)

• sudsy (adjective)

• soap opera on Wikipedia.Wikipedia