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seriocomic

American  
[seer-ee-oh-kom-ik] / ˌsɪər i oʊˈkɒm ɪk /
Sometimes seriocomical

adjective

  1. partly serious and partly comic.

    a seriocomic play.


seriocomic British  
/ ˌsɪərɪəʊˈkɒmɪk /

adjective

  1. mixing serious and comic elements

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of seriocomic

First recorded in 1775–85; seri(ous) + -o- + comic

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.

See Examples For:

Which is what makes the seriocomic “The Invite” feel both fresh and something of a throwback — a movie for those who worry about losing their edge.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 25, 2026

Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi charmed audiences at Sundance 2020 with “The Mole Agent,” her sly, seriocomic documentary about suspicious goings-on at a Santiago nursing home.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 20, 2023

Instead, it's a highly stylized and fictionalized seriocomic mystery thriller that employs a slew of heavy hitters, including Jennifer Coolidge, Mia Farrow, Margo Martindale and Richard Kind.

From Salon Oct. 18, 2022

Back in 2011, I reviewed Mat Johnson’s “Pym,” a wildly entertaining seriocomic novel that revisits — and updates — Edgar Allan Poe’s enigmatic, racially charged fantasy, “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.”

From Washington Post Jun. 22, 2022

A camp, recovering from one of these riotous revels, presents a seriocomic spectacle; black eyes, broken heads, lack-lustre visages.

From The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West by Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville

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