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situation comedy

American  

noun

  1. a comedy drama, especially a television series made up of discrete episodes about the same group of characters, as members of a family.

situation comedy British  

noun

  1. Also called: sitcom.  (on television or radio) a comedy series involving the same characters in various day-to-day situations which are developed as separate stories for each episode

"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

Etymology

Origin of situation comedy

First recorded in 1945–50

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.

It’s part situation comedy, part reality show, part prank show.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

The late Carl Reiner, who created the series and based Van Dyke’s TV writer on himself, called his star the single most talented man in situation comedy.

From Salon • Dec. 13, 2025

It is, in short, your basic “High School Musical”-“Glee”-“Smash”-“Waiting for Guffman”-type community-theater situation comedy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025

Lane is not an actor who has ever lacked for work, but the one thing that has evaded him in his much-laureled stage and screen career is a starring role in a successful situation comedy.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025

Together we resembled the cast of a dopey situation comedy, something called Grin and Bear It, or Hello, Dolly.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

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.