Old Comedy

American  

noun

1. Greek comedy of the 5th century b.c., which derived from fertility rites in honor of Dionysus and combined robust humor with biting personal and political satire.

---

Etymology

Origin of Old Comedy

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Embracing the spirit of Old Comedy, Matt Walker, who adapted and directed this madcap update set in Malibu, encourages his troupe to pull out all the vaudevillian stops.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2021

The longest and wildest of the surviving plays of Aristophanes, the great master of the Old Comedy style, “The Birds” is best known today for introducing “Cloud-cuckoo-land” into our cultural vocabulary.

From New York Times • May 6, 2018

We shall form the best idea of the Old Comedy, by considering it as the direct opposite of Tragedy.

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by Black, John

The idea of the Old Comedy is a fantastic illusion, a pleasant dream, which at last, with the exception of the general effect, all ends in nothing.

From Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by Black, John

Aristophanes is for us the representative of the Old Comedy.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 5 "Arculf" to "Armour, Philip" by Various