tragicomedy
Americannoun
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tragicomedies
plural
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a dramatic or other literary composition combining elements of both tragedy and comedy.
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an incident, or series of incidents, of mixed tragic and comic character.
noun
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a drama in which aspects of both tragedy and comedy are found
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the dramatic genre of works of this kind
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an event or incident having both comic and tragic aspects
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tragicomedy
1570–80; < Late Latin tragicōmoedia, syncopated variant of Latin tragicocōmoedia. See tragic, -o-, comedy
Explanation
A play that blends elements of both tragedy and comedy is known as a tragicomedy. The remarkable thing about a tragicomedy is that it can make you laugh and cry. A tragicomedy might be a serious drama interspersed with funny moments that periodically lighten the mood, or a drama that has a happy ending. The Roman playwright Plautus is usually credited with coining the term in his play Amphitryon, when the character Mercury says, of a play-within-a-play featuring both gods and servants, "I will make it a mixture: let it be a tragicomedy."
Vocabulary lists containing tragicomedy
Reading: Literature - Literary Genres - High School
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Theater - Middle School
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Reading: Literature - Drama - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
“Her First American,” Segal’s best book, also draws closely from life, but its fictionalizing feels freer and brings out poignant elements of romance and tragicomedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
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 ● Nov. 29, 2025
As counterprogramming to the tragicomedy of our actual times, television will continue to offer other worlds and worldviews to inhabit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 21, 2025
The comedian stars alongside Steven Yeun in the 10-episode tragicomedy about a bitter feud that develops between two strangers after a traffic incident.
From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2024
And loyal confederates, Hamlet and I never revealed that we were authors of this tragicomedy.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
The snobby film historian in me wanted to correct her, to find all of those instances of tragicomedies that anticipated Brooks’ film.
From Slate ● May 4, 2021
Nguyen cites Shakespearean tragicomedies and Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels as inspirations for “The Sympathizer” and “The Committed.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2021
His biting tragicomedies about romance, racism, workaday angst and trying to feel at home in the world keep coming back — as they should.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2019
His commitment to his high-concept tragicomedies is extraordinary.
From Washington Times ● May 11, 2016
Each coalesces in the mind with other comedies of manners, or other tragedies of blood, or with the tragicomedies of Massinger and Fletcher.
From Tragedy by Ashley H. Thorndike
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.
