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black comedy
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noun
comedy that employs morbid, gloomy, grotesque, or calamitous situations in its plot.
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…
Origin of black comedy
First recorded in 1965–70
Words nearby black comedy
black-coated, blackcock, blackcod, Black Code, black cohosh, black comedy, black copper, black cosmos, Black Country, black cow, black-crowned night heron
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use black comedy in a sentence
Now, Plaza is back at Sundance with a hilarious performance as a raging zombie girlfriend in the black comedy Life After Beth.
Aubrey Plaza on Playing A Zombie in ‘Life After Beth,’ the ‘Daria’ Movie, and More|Marlow Stern|January 21, 2014|DAILY BEASTHe steals the show as Hans, a bizarre dog snatcher in this new black comedy.
Christopher Walken on ‘Seven Psychopaths,’ Natalie Wood, & More|Marlow Stern|October 12, 2012|DAILY BEASTIn this much-maligned black comedy, Lizzie ( Phoebe Cates) suffers from social repression due to years of abuse from her mother.
Up to this point white criticism viewed the stage-setting of the black comedy with the impersonal interest of a box party.
Birthright|T.S. Stribling