comediettan.
/kəˌmiːdɪˈɛtə/, U.S. /kəˌmidiˈɛdə/ A short comedy, typically light-hearted or farcical in tone or subject matter.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [noun] > comedy > specific
low comedy1608
farce1676
light comedy1698
high comedy1707
comedy of manners1822
comedietta1823
Adelphi screamer1830
commedia dell'arte1877
musical comedy1903
comédie noire1958
alternative comedy1980
1823 J. Kenney (title) Sweethearts and wives. A popular comedietta, in two acts.
1865 Reader 8 Apr. 408 A comedietta is a newly-coined term for a new species of drama. A name was required for that dwarf species of comedy that is not so broad as farce, nor so light as vaudeville, nor so tragic as mellodrame.
1880 Graphic 13 Mar. 271/2 A new comedietta..with the title of Old Cronies, is but a dramatic trifle.
1920 A. Carr J. C. Carr viii. 58 The one of the three comediettas upon which Joe spent the most pleasant care was The Friar.
1995 A. John Elizabeth Robins i. 18 Elizabeth..also played the flirt Arabella in a short comedietta..entitled Who's to Win Him.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1823