tragicomedy
/ˌtɹædʒɪˈkɒmədi/
tragicomedy means the genre of drama that combines elements of tragedy and comedy. It carries an Arena rating of 1750, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, tragicomedy ranks #804 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,813 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #2,864 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #5,077 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
tragicomedy is pronounced /ˌtɹædʒɪˈkɒmədi/.
Why “tragicomedy” is a great word
A dramatic work that mingles the profound despair of tragedy with the buoyant levity of comedy. The term derives from Latin tragicōmoedia, a syncopated variant of tragicocōmoedia, from tragicus ("tragic") + comoedia ("comedy"), first attested in English in the 1570s. Unlike tragedy, which marches toward a singular, catastrophic end, or comedy, which aims for unalloyed amusement and resolution, tragicomedy insists that both modes exist simultaneously in life's fabric. It is the cruel jest that follows a funeral, the tear that falls during a fit of helpless laughter, and the fool who speaks the play's deepest truth—a formal acknowledgment that the human condition is an unresolved chord, forever suspended between a major and a minor key.
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French tragicomédie (whence French tragicomédie), itself borrowed from Italian tragicommedia, from Latin tragicōmoedia, tragicocōmoedia. By surface analysis, tragic + comedy, with haplology.
noun
- The genre of drama that combines elements of tragedy and comedy.
- A drama that combines elements of tragedy and comedy.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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