comical
Americanadjective
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producing laughter; amusing; funny.
a comical fellow.
-
Obsolete. pertaining to or of the nature of comedy.
adjective
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causing laughter
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ludicrous; laughable
Synonym Usage
See amusing.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of comical
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at comic, -al 1
Explanation
Something comical is humorous, amusing, silly, or just plain funny; it makes people laugh. When you think comical, think laughter-causing. Stand-up comedians and comic strips intend to be comical. People like to share comical moments: for example, by posting videos of their pets doing comical things, like a dog going bananas in a water sprinkler. Just like the dog doesn't know it's being funny, people are unintentionally comical too. If a person absorbed in his cell phone conversation falls down a manhole, many will find it comical.
Vocabulary lists containing comical
Out of the Dust
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List 2
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -al, -ial
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All the films are affectionate, most are light-hearted and often comical.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026
By turns comical and deeply affecting, “The Golden Boy” is heavy on back story, family history, Canadian history and geography, and on what Aristotle and friends would call exegesis.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
The 98th Academy Awards featured emotional speeches, comical relief and a bevy of backstage fun.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026
At the core of Outlive is a set of outright comical assumptions about the amount of time and money that Americans have access to.
From Slate • Feb. 26, 2026
They have a tendency to take expressions literally, and this literal interpretation is often incongruous with the standard one and therefore comical.
From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
