tragic
[traj-ik]
- characteristic or suggestive of tragedy: tragic solemnity.
- extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic: a tragic plight.
- dreadful, calamitous, disastrous, or fatal: a tragic event.
- of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of tragedy: the tragic drama.
- acting in or writing tragedy: a tragic actor; a tragic poet.
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- the tragic, the element or quality of tragedy in literature, art, drama, etc.: lives that had never known anything but the tragic.
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Sometimes trag·i·cal (for defs 1–3).
Origin of tragic
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com2. distressing, pitiful.
Antonyms
1–3. comic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
sad, fateful, miserable, dreadful, deadly, calamitous, unfortunate, pitiful, fatal, harrowing, painful, grievous, pathetic, cataclysmic, disastrous, dire, awful, destructive, grim, terribleExamples from the Web for tragic
Contemporary Examples
Within minutes, it seems, of the disclosures of these tragic events, large numbers of people chose a side and stuck to it.
Your death is a tragic bookend to a year touted as the “transgender tipping point.”
Still, I worry that a simple traffic stop could have tragic consequences.
There are plenty of tragic and inspiring choices, but the most obvious legacy Castro will leave behind is the broken family.
The Life and Hard Times Of The Family A Cuban Defector Left BehindBrin-Jonathan Butler
December 19, 2014
“This is tragic because nobody needs good policing more than poorer neighborhoods with higher crime rates,” Obama said.
Historical Examples
These excepted, the only survivors of this tragic scene were Capts.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis MarionWilliam Dobein James
And before her, always, she saw the tragic women of the wards.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
Now he had a son, and the child's mother looked at him with tragic eyes.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
It is tragic how few people ever ‘possess their souls’ before they die.
De ProfundisOscar Wilde
That is not such a tragic thing as possibly it sounds to you.
De ProfundisOscar Wilde
tragic
less commonly tragical (ˈtrædʒɪkəl)
- of, relating to, or characteristic of tragedy
- mournful or pitiablea tragic face
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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
Word Origin and History for tragic
adj.
1540s, "calamitous, disastrous, fatal," shortened from tragical (late 15c.), modeled on Latin tragicus, from Greek tragikos "of or pertaining to tragedy," literally "of or pertaining to a goat," and probably referring to a satyr impersonated by a goat singer or satyric actor (see tragedy). Tragic flaw (1913) translates Greek hamartia.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper