comicalityn.
/ˌkɒmᵻˈkalᵻti/, U.S. /ˌkɑməˈkælədi/ 1. The quality or fact of being comical or comic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > one who or that which is comical > quality or condition of
comicalness?1691
comicality1718
vis comica1757
drollness1823
funniness1836
farcicality1849
funniosity1920
zaniness1960
1718 Weekly-Jrnl. 20 Dec. 1/2 Observing the Gravity and Comicallity of his Features, he stopt short.
1783 F. Burney Diary 17 Jan. (1842) II. 246 Stories, that for humour and comicality I think unequalled.
1824 Hist. Gambling ii. 35 Another trick of his Grace..is worthy of record for its comicality.
1866 C. Dickens Let. 4 Sept. (1999) XI. 241 Much better than any amount..of mere comicality.
1908 Nineteenth Cent. July 51 This comicality is bitter with a deep bitterness, just as bitter as is that of Molière.
1956 Washington Post 9 Sept. e4/6 If the situation were not so serious, the comicality could be said to have increased with the crisis.
1998 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 5 Nov. 45/1 Park's mimicry can compete for accuracy and comicality with the very best stand-up comedians.
2.
a. A comical written, theatrical, or artistic work; a humorous sketch.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > [noun] > comic or humorous
comedy1523
merriment1697
comicality1728
humoristics1886
1728 N. Amhurst Twickenham Hotch-potch 1 (heading) Seriosities and comicalities by way of hotch-potch.
1767 D. Garrick Let. 15 Feb. (1963) II. 558 If you intend to stand by ye London Journal..I will prepare some comicality for it.
1792 Diary; or, Woodfall's Reg. 1 June Little Isaac skims the country, and touches, with his budget of comicalities, at Bristol, Southampton, and every other place where he can vend to advantage his dramatic commodities.
1836 New Sporting Mag. Mar. 281 Besides the ‘Great Conflagration’, there are nearly a score of other comicalities in prose and verse,—all excellent.
1859 R. Blakey Old Faces New Masks 153 Artistic historians have left us in the dark..as to the precise nature of these graphic comicalities.
1906 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Oct. 275/1 He would have been a great military painter had he given his whole time to serious work. But the public preferred his comicalities.
1926 Catal. Copyright Entries: Pt. 1, Group 1 (Libr. of Congr. Copyright Office) 23 1710 (title) The billy goat and other comicalities.
2009 R. Stott Jolly Fellows vi. 180 Each performance featured a ‘comicality’ that made little pretence of realism.
b. An instance of the comical; a comical thing or (occasionally) person.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [noun] > one who or that which is comical
comedy1535
toy1542
jest1602
joke1670
comic1674
high comedy1707
humorous1753
comicality1796
funny1852
funniosity1871
hot sketch1917
pisser1918
riot1919
panic1921
cocasserie1934
yell1938
mess1952
crack-up1961
1796 Morning Chron. 4 Aug. The Pope of Rome's Jest Book: containing the comicalities of the Conclave, the conundrums of the Cardinals, [etc.]
1818 R. Southey Lett. III. 100 His wife resigns herself with comical composure to all his comicalities.
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iv. xvi. 298 ‘Don't you think me a queer little comicality?’
1872 W. Black Strange Adventures Phaeton xxi. 300 Wearing such comicalities of jackets.
1955 E. Bowen World of Love iv. 69 The landscape..had comicalities which his eye had noted.
1997 I. Donaldson Jonson's Magic Houses ix. 150 The very appeal not to laugh at the outset of the first lyric paradoxically alerts the reader to the possibility of comicalities to come.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1718