tragicomedy

American  

[traj-i-kom-i-dee] / ˌtrædʒ ɪˈkɒm ɪ di /

noun

plural

tragicomedies

1. a dramatic or other literary composition combining elements of both tragedy and comedy.

2. an incident, or series of incidents, of mixed tragic and comic character.

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tragicomedy British  

/ ˌtrædʒɪˈkɒmɪdɪ /

noun

1. 1. a drama in which aspects of both tragedy and comedy are found

   2. the dramatic genre of works of this kind

2. an event or incident having both comic and tragic aspects

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Other Word Forms

• tragicomic adjective
• tragicomical adjective
• tragicomically adverb

Etymology

Origin of tragicomedy

1570–80; < Late Latin tragicōmoedia, syncopated variant of Latin tragicocōmoedia. See tragic, -o-, comedy

Example Sentences

His breakthrough came with the overnight success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", a tragicomedy centred around two minor characters from Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

From Barron's

In the birthplace of Western drama, a classic night unfolded from around the hour-mark, in Greece and in Copenhagen, a tragicomedy and a mystery and a farce.

From BBC

“Memoir of a Snail” is a strange stop-motion tragicomedy straight out of Dickens that’s not about a gastropod but the grim life of a grief-stricken snail enthusiast.

From Los Angeles Times

It is a tragicomedy that mixes historical fact with the author's imagination.

From BBC

For anyone who’s ever felt adrift or behind in life, this keenly observed and inventively structured Argentine tragicomedy mines dry humor from the absurdity of social norms and its protagonist’s downhearted demeanor.

From Los Angeles Times