tragic
Americanadjective
-
characteristic or suggestive of tragedy.
tragic solemnity.
- Antonyms:
- comic
-
extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic.
a tragic plight.
- Synonyms:
- pitiful
- Antonyms:
- comic
-
dreadful, calamitous, disastrous, or fatal.
a tragic event.
- Antonyms:
- comic
-
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.
noun
adjective
-
of, relating to, or characteristic of tragedy
-
mournful or pitiable
a tragic face
Other Word Forms
- hypertragic adjective
- hypertragical adjective
- hypertragically adverb
- nontragic adjective
- nontragical adjective
- nontragically adverb
- nontragicalness noun
- quasi-tragic adjective
- quasi-tragically adverb
- supertragic adjective
- supertragically adverb
- tragically adverb
- tragicalness noun
- untragic adjective
- untragical adjective
- untragically adverb
- untragicalness noun
Etymology
Origin of tragic
First recorded in 1535–45; from Latin tragicus, from Greek tragikós “of tragedy,” from trág(os) “goat” + -ikos -ic; see tragedy ( def. )
Explanation
Tragic means sad on a grand scale. Rain on your parade? Sad. Weeks of rain leading to the destruction of a small town and the lives of those in it? Tragic. Though the word tragic has come to be used for common sorrows, it's best reserved for the kind of sad, unavoidable situations that Shakespeare would have written about. In a staged tragedy, the main character comes to a sad end due to his or her one tragic flaw –– this lead is called a tragic hero.
Vocabulary lists containing tragic
Unit 1: Telling Details
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The Tale of Despereaux
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The Wednesday Wars
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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.
Blain said she did not know exactly what had taken place because she was asleep, but she believed it must have been a "tragic accident".
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Though tragic “Forza,” from which were excerpts from the third and fourth acts, constituted the first half of the program.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2026
One of the dynamics in Sorsby’s case is uniquely tragic, even in this vast sea of similar scandals.
From Slate • Apr. 28, 2026
The technology remained locked behind Cold War secrecy until 1983, when the tragic downing of an off-course Korean Air Lines flight prompted President Reagan to open the satellite network for civilian aviation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
“There is no escaping the fact that nuclear conflict would leave a tragic world,” declared the opening pages of Fallout Protection, a U.S. government booklet published by the millions in late 1961.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
