Dialogue vs. Drama — What's the Difference?

Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange. As a philosophical or didactic device, it is chiefly associated in the West with the Socratic dialogue as developed by Plato, but antecedents are also found in other traditions including Indian literature.

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television. Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics (c.

A conversation between two or more people.

A play for theatre, radio, or television

A discussion of positions or beliefs, especially between groups to resolve a disagreement.

An exciting, emotional, or unexpected event or circumstance

Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative.

A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action.

The lines or passages in a script that are intended to be spoken.

A serious narrative work or program for television, radio, or the cinema.

A literary work written in the form of a conversation

Theatrical plays of a particular kind or period

(Music) A composition or passage for two or more parts, suggestive of conversational interplay.

The art or practice of writing or producing dramatic works.

To express as or in a dialogue

A situation or succession of events in real life having the dramatic progression or emotional effect characteristic of a play

To engage in a dialogue.

The quality or condition of being dramatic

A conversation or other form of discourse between two or more individuals.

A composition, normally in prose, telling a story and intended to be represented by actors impersonating the characters and speaking the dialogue

(authorship) In a dramatic or literary presentation, the verbal parts of the script or text; the verbalizations of the actors or characters.

Such a work for television, radio or the cinema (usually one that is not a comedy)

(philosophy) A literary form, where the presentation resembles a conversation.

Theatrical plays in general

(computing) A dialogue box.

A situation in real life that has the characteristics of such a theatrical play

To discuss or negotiate so that all parties can reach an understanding.

(slang) Rumor, lying or exaggerated reaction to life or online events; melodrama; an angry dispute or scene; a situation made more complicated or worse than it should be; intrigue or spiteful interpersonal maneuvering.

(transitive) To put into dialogue form.

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.

(obsolete) To take part in a dialogue; to dialogize.

A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest.

A conversation between two or more persons; particularly, a formal conservation in theatrical performances or in scholastic exercises.

Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it; dramatic literature.

A written composition in which two or more persons are represented as conversing or reasoning on some topic; as, the Dialogues of Plato.

A dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage;

To take part in a dialogue; to dialogize.

An episode that is turbulent or highly emotional

To express as in dialogue.

The literary genre of works intended for the theater

A conversation between two persons

The quality of being arresting or highly emotional

The lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction

A literary composition in the form of a conversation between two people;

A discussion intended to produce an agreement;