telenovela

telenovela — noun

1. a television drama series, originally from Latin America, that tells a complete

1.nounB2
Definition

a television drama series, originally from Latin America, that tells a complete story over a limited number of episodes, often featuring romance and intense family conflict

Example

Zola watches a Brazilian telenovela every evening after dinner with her grandmother.

collocation: watch a telenovela

The new telenovela on Channel 12 follows the story of two rival coffee-growing families.

Common collocations
  • watch a telenovela
  • star in a telenovela
  • appear in a telenovela
  • act in a telenovela
  • telenovela fan
  • telenovela episode
  • telenovela actor
  • telenovela star
Synonyms
  • soap opera

    more general term for any ongoing TV drama serial; telenovela is a specific type with a fixed run

  • drama series

    broader category that includes non-romance and non-melodramatic shows

  • serial

    more formal term; emphasises the episodic, continuing-story format

Usage Note

The word is used in English as a loanword from Spanish. Unlike an American or British soap opera, which can run for years, a telenovela tells one complete story and ends after a fixed number of episodes.

Common Mistakes

I watched the same telenovela for ten years.
I watched the same soap opera for ten years.
Telenovelas are designed to finish after one story arc, usually within a year, whereas soap operas can continue indefinitely.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three words describe TV shows that tell a continuing story, but they differ in format and cultural origin. A soap opera (e.g. 'The Young and the Restless') airs weekly for many years with no planned ending; the story advances in small increments. A telenovela is a Latin American format that runs for a set number of episodes — typically 120 to 200 — and tells one complete arc from start to finish. A drama series (e.g. 'Breaking Bad') may also have a finite run, but it usually focuses on a single genre or theme rather than the melodramatic, romance-driven plots common in telenovelas. Serial is the broadest term: any show whose episodes are connected by an ongoing storyline. For example, a telenovela is a type of serial, but not every serial is a telenovela.

soap operadrama seriesserial ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • watch a telenovela
  • star in a telenovela
  • act in a telenovela
  • appear in a telenovela

Prepositions

Etymology

SpanishEnglish

Borrowed from Spanish 'telenovela', a blend of 'tele' (short for television) and 'novela' (novel, story). The format first appeared in Latin America in the 1950s and has since spread to many other countries, including the United States, where Spanish-language networks produce their own versions.