dramatic

Multiple Entries:
  dramatic    irony  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
dramatic/drəˈmatɪk/

▶adjective

• 1 relating to drama.

• 2 sudden and striking: a dramatic increase.

  ■ exciting or impressive.

  ■ intended to create an effect; theatrical.

– derivatives
dramatically adverb.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
irony1 /ˈʌɪrəni/

▶noun (pl. ironies) the expression of meaning through the use of language signifying the opposite, typically for humorous effect.

■ a state of affairs that appears perversely contrary to what one expects.

■ (also dramatic or tragic irony) a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the significance of a character's words or actions is clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

– origin C16: via L. from Gk eirōneia ‘simulated ignorance’, from eirōn ‘dissembler’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
irony2 /ˈʌɪəni/

▶adjective of or like iron.