tragicomedy
/ˌtradʒɪˈkɒmɪdi
/noun (plural tragicomedies)
1A play or novel containing elements of both comedy and tragedy.It's like a romantic comedy written by Beckett - a romantic tragicomedy - in which romance dies not in some passionate combustion, but fizzles out into uncomfortable, aseptic banality....
- And he aims to complete this picture with a tragicomedy dealing with the relationship between two fiery best friends.
- Of his three rousing tragicomedies, Juno and the Paycock is the most popular, The Shadow of a Gunman the most moving, and The Plow and the Stars the most accomplished.
1.1 [mass noun] Tragicomedies as a genre.It would seem that tragicomedy was the new genre of the moment, and that Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Beaumont sparked each other off to develop that genre to its full potential....
- Part fairy tale, part tragicomedy, it's sure to be a hit.
- This film could have been deadly earnest and full of moral fury, but the tone is the stuff of tragicomedy.
Derivatives
tragicomic
/ adjective ...- It would be tragicomic if it had not cost so many lives.
- A moving, tragicomic tale of a woman facing the loss of a breast to cancer has won the annual Seniors Week short story competition.
- Well, here's a revealing, tragicomic, ugly example.
tragicomically
- It's a very serious issue; they're often abetted by over-zealous or uninformed prosecutors; and it does happen - as the notorious case I just mentioned tragicomically demonstrated.
- Once again the defense was tragicomically inept, particularly against our point guard, who racked up seven assists before the first quarter was over.
- A stout but vulnerable little object, it heaves part of itself aloft in a way that leaves one footlike dowel hanging, tragicomically, a few inches off the ground.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French tragicomédie or Italian tragicomedia, based on Latin tragicocomoedia, from tragicus (see tragic) + comoedia (see comedy).