tragicadj.n.

Brit.

/ˈtradʒɪk/, U.S.

/ˈtrædʒɪk/

Forms: 1500s–1600s tragicke, 1500s–1600s tragik, 1500s–1600s tragike, 1500s–1600s tragique, 1500s–1700s tragick, 1600s tradgike, 1600s– tragic.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French tragique; Latin tragicus.

Etymology: < (i) Middle French, French tragique (adjective) of, relating to, or of the nature of tragedy in drama or literature (a1374), (of an author) that composes tragedies (a1383; the use in sense ‘catastrophic, disastrous, devastating’ is not paralleled until later than in English: 1569), (noun) writer of tragedies (1550), that which is tragic (although this is first attested slightly later than in English: 1679), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin tragicus of or belonging to tragedy, represented in tragedy, suitable to tragedy, tragic in style < ancient Greek τραγικός of or for tragedy, stately, majestic, in Hellenistic Greek also pompous, apparently < τράγος he-goat (see tragus n.) + -ικός -ic suffix, after τραγῳδία tragedy n. Compare Catalan tràgic (15th cent.), Spanish trágico (a1428 as noun in sense ‘writer of tragedies’, 1440 as adjective), Portuguese trágico (a1595), Italian tragico (1516, earliest in sense A. 1a), adjectives. Compare earlier tragical adj.With the use as noun compare classical Latin tragicus (masculine) tragic actor, tragic poet, ancient Greek τραγικός (masculine) tragic poet, τραγική (feminine) serious poetry, Middle French tragique tragic dramatist (1579 in the passage translated in quot. 1594 at sense B. 1b), and also tragical n.

A. adj.

a. Of or relating to an event, situation, etc., that causes great suffering, destruction, or distress, esp. one that involves death on a large scale or premature death; catastrophic, disastrous, devastating. Cf. tragical adj. 1a.In early use frequently more narrowly: sorrowful, sad; involving the downfall or death of a powerful or important person; resembling the events of a tragedy in drama or literature. In early use also: †murderous, brutal (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > calamitous or disastrous

unholda1350

blacka1387

unhappyc1386

mischievousc1390

mischieffula1400

tragicalc1525

tragic1533

calamitous1545

mistempered1570

disadventurous1590

ominous1594

dismal1599

disastrous1601

ill-starredc1704

disventurousa1739

catastrophal1842

1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. 100 Ane notabill exempill of maist terribil and tragik [L. sceleris tragici] cruelte.

1545 G. Joye Expos. Daniel (viii.) f. 129^v Noble valeant princes..haue there bene, which at last..haue had a miserable tragik ende.

1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 v. vi. 28 Better can my brest abide thy daggers point, Then can mine eares that tragike historie.

1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman ii. 80 The Tragick effects of this levity.

1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xiii. 203 The King..whose injuries they return in violent and tragick Vengeances on their insolent Annoyers.

1765 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) II. iii. 152 The tragic death of his royal protector.

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxvii. 30 After his tragic death..the archbishop of Milan was dispatched..to the court of Treves.

1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets v. 50 In these tragic days.

1872 J. Yeats Growth Commerce 294 The tragic fate of many bold men.

1884 Cent. Mag. Jan. 375/1 Their pale, gaunt features and stooping shoulders tell a tragic story.

1907 F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (ed. 2 reissued) I. 98 Throughout his short life to its tragic close.

1950 Life 15 May 158/2 The Spanish Civil War brought a tragic end to this life.

1990 J. Bishop & M. Waldholz Genome v. 103 This tragic disorder is a gradual, relentless wasting of the muscles that begins in early childhood and almost always ends fatally in early adulthood.

2005 Dunoon Observer & Argyllshire Standard 15 July 1/2 We are all shocked and distressed to hear of this tragic accident.

b. Exhibiting, characterized by, or suffering great distress, misfortune, or sorrow; extremely unhappy. Cf. tragical adj. 1b. In later use frequently hyperbolic. Sometimes overlapping with sense A. 2b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [adjective] > characterized by sorrow

sadc1400

languorousc1475

tragicala1700

melpomenish1801

sorryful1821

tragic1848

the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective] > gloomy or depressing

darkOE

unmerryOE

deathlyc1225

dolefulc1275

elengec1275

dreicha1300

coolc1350

cloudyc1374

sada1375

colda1400

deadlya1400

joylessc1400

unjoyful?c1400

disconsolatea1413

mournfula1425

funeralc1425

uncheerfulc1449

dolent1489

dolesome1533

heavy-hearted1555

glum1558

ungladsome1558

black1562

pleasureless1567

dern1570

plaintive?1570

glummish1573

cheerless1575

comfortless1576

wintry1579

glummy1580

funebral1581

discouraging1584

dernful?1591

murk1596

recomfortless1596

sullen1597

amating1600

lugubrious1601

dusky1602

sable1603

funebrial1604

damping1607

mortifying1611

tearful?1611

uncouth1611

dulsome1613

luctual1613

dismal1617

winterous1617

unked1620

mopish1621

godforsaken?1623

uncheerly1627

funebrious1630

lugubrous1632

drearisome1633

unheartsome1637

feral1641

drear1645

darksome1649

sadding1649

saddening1650

disheartening1654

funebrous1654

luctiferous1656

mestifical1656

tristifical1656

sooty1657

dreary1667

tenebrose1677

clouded1682

tragicala1700

funereal1707

gloomy1710

sepulchrala1711

dumpishc1717

bleaka1719

depressive1727

lugubre1727

muzzy1728

dispiriting1733

uncheery1760

unconsolatory1760

unjolly1764

Decemberly1765

sombre1768

uncouthie1768

depressing1772

unmirthful1782

sombrous1789

disanimating1791

Decemberish1793

grey1794

uncheering1796

ungenial1796

uncomforting1798

disencouraginga1806

stern1812

chilling1815

uncheered1817

dejecting1818

mopey1821

desponding1828

wisht1829

leadening1835

unsportful1837

demoralizing1840

Novemberish1840

frigid1844

morne1844

tragic1848

wet-blanketty1848

morgue1850

ungladdeneda1851

adusk1856

smileless1858

soul-sick1858

Novemberya1864

saturnine1863

down1873

lacklustre1883

Heaven-abandoneda1907

downbeat1952

doomy1967

1848 Fraser's Mag. Aug. 170/2 ‘If you do not write to me, cher ami, what shall I think?’ He looked up to me; oh, such a tragic look!

1876 L. Stephen Hist. Eng. Thought 18th Cent. II. 372 Swift..is the most tragic figure in our literature. Beside the deep agony of his soul, all other suffering..is pale and colourless.

1881 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 17 Sept. 16/1 This gloomy-looking, tragic young fellow.

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 16/1 Lafe's expression grew tragic, and Jinnie hurried on with her tale.

1954 C. Beaton Glass of Fashion viii. 150 Her greatest allure lay in the fact that..there was something a little tragic about her.

1976 B. Ruby Ruby in Rough 22 The Rollinses were a tragic family, with a son who would later go to prison for murder.

1988 R. Rendell Veiled One (1989) vii. 99 Dorothy Sanders was waiting for him, her face tragic with woe.

1994 Independent (Nexis) 9 Dec. (Comment section) 18 My five-year-old let out a tragic wail and burst into tears. ‘I've lost my Christmas presents.’

c. In weakened sense: unfortunate, regrettable, lamentable; pathetic, pitiable. Now also (colloquial): pathetically inadequate or unfashionable (cf. sad adj. 7).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > regret > [adjective] > regrettable

regrettable1603

desirable1652

sad1664

tragic1868

1868 Fraser's Mag. Jan. 127/2 To take an Irish girl,..and place her among the furniture of a handsome dwelling, with orders to clean the same,..must be a beginning of troubles to the luckless mistress quite tragic to contemplate.

1886 W. D. Howells Indian Summer xviii. 308 She dreams of restoring my youth somehow... It's pretty of her, but it's terribly pathetic—it's tragic.

1918 J. Hay Mrs Marden's Ordeal xx. 217 Judith said it was tragic, the way beautiful women never seemed to be able to keep from being found out!

1954 Ld. Cherwell in B. Dixon From Creation to Chaos (1989) 23 It would be really amusing (if it were not so tragic) to see how arts men..have the impudence to look down upon people who know far more about the arts subjects than the arts men do of technology.

1990 Folk Roots Aug. 41/2 It would be tragic to ignore this Texan singer/songwriter's debut.

1995 Maxim July 129 The Bradys..sport the same tragic early-seventies quiffs, boast wardrobes packed with polyester flares, and talk in absurd sitcom gagspeak.

2010 N.Y. Mag. 8 Mar. 49/1 The log-shaped coconut-cream doughnuts (with a tragic limequat marmalade on the side) had been mercifully banished from the menu.

a. Of, relating to, or of the nature of tragedy in drama or literature; that is a tragedy; that composes, acts in, or features in a tragedy or tragedies. Cf. tragical adj. 3.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [adjective] > tragedy

tragediousa1513

tragediala1529

tragedical1548

tragical1559

tragic1563

cothurnical1599

cothurnal1602

buskined1603

cothurnic1607

polytragic1607

cothurnate1612

cothurnian1661

tragediac1782

cothurned1882

pretragic1939

1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Collingbourne sig. X.v^v Witnes theyr Satyr sharpe, and tragicke playes.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. xii. sig. Oo2 Yclad in costly garments, fit for tragicke Stage.

a1637 B. Jonson tr. Horace Art of Poetrie 128 in Wks. (1640) III Yet Comick matter shunnes to be exprest In Tragicke verse.

1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. ii. 16 Euripides..lastly converted himself to Tragick poesy.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 315. ¶10 The Ancient Tragick Writers.

1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 31 July (1965) I. 416 The Tragick story [of Hero and Leander] that you are well acquainted with.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 156. ⁋10 That the tragick and comick affections have been moved alternately with equal force, and that no plays have oftener filled the eye with tears.

a1780 J. Harris Philol. Inq. (1781) ii. vii. 153 That pity and terror are the true tragic passions; that they truly bear that name, and are necessarily diffused through every fable truly tragic.

1781 R. Fitzpatrick in R. B. Sheridan Critic Prol. sig. A2 The Tragick Queen, to please a tasteless crow'd, Had learn'd to bellow, rant, and roar so loud.

1827 J. W. Donaldson Buckham's Theatre of Greeks (ed. 2) Pref. 6 The..Tragic and Comic metres.

1880 Scribner's Monthly Dec. 316/2 He is an actor of great emotional and even tragic power.

1900 Cent. Mag. Feb. 646/2 But tragic novels are poor sellers.

1961 K. Tynan Curtains i. 69 A dramatist could inject a shot of colloquialism into a tragic aria without courting bathos.

1990 Daughters of Sarah Jan. 29/1 The great male tragic heroes of the world's literature.

2011 Times (Nexis) 11 Apr. 19 A play or film—tragic or comic—which connects and astonishes can raise you up for days.

b. Relating to the elevated or dignified style of tragedy; designating this style; serious, stately; (later also) affectedly elevated, grandiose, pompous; (of language) grandiloquent, rhetorical. Cf. tragical adj. 2. Now rare. Sometimes overlapping with sense A. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > lofty or grandiloquent

magnificenta1460

statelya1525

magnifical1533

tragical1533

lofty1565

tragic1566

sublime1586

over-high1587

magnific1589

heroic1590

buskina1593

grandiloquous1593

full-mouthed1594

high-pitched1594

buskined1595

full-mouth1595

high-borne1596

altisonant1612

Roman1619

high-sounding1624

transcendent1631

magniloquent1640

loud1651

altiloquent1656

grandiloquent1656

largiloquent1656

altisonous1661

tall1670

elevate1673

grandisonous1674

sounding1683

exalted1684

grandisonant1684

grandific1727

magniloquous1727

orotund1799

superb1825

spread eagle1839

grandiose1840

magnisonanta1843

togated1868

elevated1875

mandarin1959

1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. E.v^v And Polleo, the princely iestes, in loftie Iambiques maye By vertue of that gracious verse, in tragike wyse displaye.

1595 W. Covell Polimanteia sig. Q2 Take a tragicke stile, & mourne for the trulie Hon. Ferdinandos death.

1652 J. Hall tr. Longinus Περι Ὑψους 35 We see a many of those that would be thought no small Oratours swell in a Tragick manner.

1684 W. Winstanley England's Worthies: Shakespeare 345 Never any exprest a more lofty and Tragick height.

1708 N. Rowe Royal Convert iii. i. 31 Bid 'em be swift, and dress their bloody Altars With ev'ry Circumstance of Tragick Pomp.

1754 London Mag. July 354/1 The short pert trip of the affected beau, or the haughty tragic step of the more solemn fop.

1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott xix (note) Her [sc. Mrs. Siddons'] tragic exclamation to a footboy during a dinner,..‘You've brought me water, boy, I asked for beer’.

1888 A. K. Green Behind Closed Doors vi. 79 He wasn't tragic, not a bit of it.

1904 Speaker 1 Oct. 3/2 Talma is remembered because of..Napoleon, who..imitated the stateliness of his tragic demeanour when he wished to appear an Emperor in every one of his rather few inches.

B. n.

a. = tragedian n. 2. Somewhat rare. Not recorded in 17th and 18th centuries.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor in specific type of play

comedy player1550

tragedy player1552

comediant1568

tragic1577

tragedian1590

comedian1603

comic1619

interludera1627

pastorista1627

tragicomediana1627

tragedy actor1690

low comedian1740

tragedy man1784

exodiary1793

farcer1813

monopolylogist1830

stock actor1839

beneficiaire1841

monologuist1853

monologist1858

burlesquer1869

opera-bouffer1870

low comedy1885

knockabout1887

farceur1889

folk-player1936

1577 R. E. tr. P. Le Choyselat Disc. Housebandrie sig. Dij I saie not prodigall, as of Æsope [sc. Clodius Aesopus] the Tragike [Fr. Esope tragicque], with his platter of small Birdes, whereof Plinie maketh mention in the tenth booke of his Naturall Historie.

1587 J. Higgins Mirour for Magistrates (new ed.) Forrex i Complayne I may with tragiques on y^e stage.

1843 W. M. Thackeray Ravenswing vi, in Fraser's Mag. Aug. 201/1 ‘That he is,’ said Canterfield, the first tragic.

1993 H. A. Kelly Ideas & Forms of Trag. iii. 67 A house in the theater..where comics and tragics sang, and histrions and mimes danced.

b. = tragedian n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun] > writer of tragedy

tragedian?c1400

tragedya1464

tragedy writer1552

tragic1594

tragedist1802

tragedianess1822

1594 R. Ashley tr. L. le Roy Interchangeable Course v. f. 69 For besides the Heroicks which haue written of diuers matters..there hath bin a great companie of Tragicks [Fr. Tragiques], Comicks [etc.].

a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. ii. §5. 203 Whereof two Tragicks haue giuen vs two notable instances.

1684 tr. F. Hédelin d'Aubignac Whole Art of Stage ii. vii. 113 The three Greek Tragicks, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles.

1737 R. Savage Of Public Spirit 7 With lib'ral Light the Tragic charms the Age.

1827 J. W. Donaldson Buckham's Theatre of Grks. (ed. 2) Pref. 5 To give the student an idea of the manner in which he is expected to read the Tragics.

1922 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 218 It would be futile to compare the tragedy of Corneille and Racine to that of Sophocles and Euripides. The French tragics seldom reach the bedrock of human nature.

2008 Rev. Metaphysics 61 642 The great tragics themselves, irrespective of the subject-matter chosen, ultimately praised reconciliation and justice.

2. With the. That which is tragic; the tragic style or genre.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [noun] > tragedy > tragic style

tragical1567

buskin1579

tragic1674

cothurnus1852

cothurn1856

1674 T. Rymer tr. R. Rapin Refl. Aristotle's Treat. Poesie 71 Aristotle distinguishes Poesie into three divers kinds of perfect Poems, the Epick, the Tragick, and the Comick [Fr. l'Epopée, la Tragedie, & la Comedie].

a1687 H. More Acct. Virtue (1690) i. xi. 69 From this Fountain sprung up Satyrical Poetry, even as from the Effects of Love and Courage, came the Epic and the Tragic.

1786 tr. Abbé Blanchet et al. Tales from French I. Pref. p. i The mixture of the humorous, the satiric, the serious, and the tragic, will prevent lassitude.

1821 New Monthly Mag. 3 329/2 We have before only seen Mrs. West in the tragic and the sentimental, both of which she too often deepens into unbearable sadness.

1872 J. Morley Voltaire iii. 123 Sometimes they failed of reaching the tragic, through excessive fear of passing its limits.

1949 Billboard 29 Oct. 125/2 Acuff endows this ballad of a convict about to be hung with a rare sense of the tragic.

2001 Brill's Content Apr. 100/3 The book's early chapters have a sepia-tinged hint of the romantic and occasionally the tragic.

†3. A tragic poem or drama. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > a tragedy

tragedya1450

tragica1679

goat-singing1789

trago-drama1793

melo-tragedy1818

tragedietta1836

society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > narrative poem > [noun] > other types of narrative poem

comedya1413

tragica1679

lai1774

fabliau1804

dream poem1850

parable-poem1884

dream vision1906

corrido1911

toast1962

a1679 R. Wild Benefice (1689) i. 9 Thine [sc. Ben Jonson's] are the Tragicks and the Comick Lays; And thou'rt th'Refiner of our Drossy Phrase.

1709 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions 137 The Man in graver Tragic known.

1755 in R. Dodsley Coll. Poems IV. 120 Ye poets so lofty..Who In epics and tragics..Utter sounds by mere mortals not well understood.

1856 R. W. Emerson Jrnl. 9 Jan. (1913) IX. 8 I must give my wisdom a comic form, instead of tragics or elegiacs.

†a. Tragic fate, downfall. Cf. tragedy n. 5. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [noun] > that which is ordained by fate > adverse fate or doom

doomc1400

tragica1699

a1699 J. Kirkton Secret & True Hist. Church Scotl. (1817) viii. 310 This was her miserable tragick.

b. A tragic event, a disaster. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck > instance of misfortune or ill-luck > dreadful or severe

tragedy1509

calamity1552

disaster1567

fatality1648

stroke1686

catastrophe1748

tragic1847

big one1978

meltdown1979

1847 A. H. Clough Let. June in Poems & Prose Remains (1869) I. 113 Whatever comes of it—pain and grief, suicide and murder, all the tragics you can think of.

1967 M. J. Molloy Visiting House i., in R. Hogan Seven Irish Plays 39 Oh dear!.. Tim, this is an awful tragic!

5. Originally and chiefly Australian. A boring or socially inept person, esp. one who pursues a solitary interest with obsessive dedication. Also more neutrally (with modifying noun): an avid fan, a devotee. Cf. sense A. 1c.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [noun] > boring or socially inept person

weenie1956

anorak1984

spod1989

tragic1998

1998 Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. 44/3 Sportspeople are often bemused and embarrassed by the tragics... Believing themselves unutterably lucky, performers rarely know how to respond to the tragics' worship.

2001 Australian (Nexis) 24 Jan. 22 It was all over in 86 minutes... 6-4 6-3 6-0..(though tennis tragics might recall the actual score was 6-3 6-4 6-0).

2004 T. Winton Turning 118 At school she's not a complete tragic, but she's not exactly popular either.

2010 Sunday Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 26 Sept. 63 By the late 1960s the live-music tragic would be working at Consolidated Rock Agency.

Compounds

C1.

a. Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as tragic-fated, tragic-storied, tragic-voiced, etc.

ΚΠ

1859 Englishwoman's Rev. 15 Jan. 34/3 Tragic-fated widow of Prasatagus.

1898 V. J. Daley At Dawn & Dusk 25 Gems that Rajahs dead had won and hoarded; Tragic-storied, splendid jewels.

1908 Daily Chron. 19 Nov. 3/2 At the time of the tragic-fated Struensee.

1941 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 May 237/1 An unhappy young Austrian refugee, a tragic-faced and rather high-flown creature.

2012 Afr. News (Nexis) 11 Apr. It is always easier to show an aid worker saving an African child overlaid by a tragic-voiced reporter.

b. In combination with another adjective, with the sense ‘tragic and ——’, as tragic-comical, tragic-humorous, tragic-ironic, etc. Cf. tragi- comb. form.

ΚΠ

1768 A. Maclaine tr. J. L. von Mosheim Eccl. Hist. (ed. 2) III. 107 These tragic-comical spectacles, though they amused and affected in a certain manner the gazing populace, [etc.].

1839 W. Irving Mountjoy in Knickerbocker Mag. Nov. 412 Whenever my father looked me in the face, it was with such a tragic-comical leer.

1865 R. Tubbs tr. J. Schlüter Gen. Hist. Music xii. 193 These three grandest of Mozart's symphonies (the first lyrical, the second tragic-pathetic, and the third of ethical import).

1876 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 516/2 An event once seeming to possess all the magnitude of the tragic-heroic, now dwindled into melodrama.

1902 ‘G. F. Monkshood’ & G. Gamble R. Kipling (ed. 3) 155 Some side scene..of the great tragic-ironic.

1906 Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 3/4 The punishing, in a tragic-humorous manner, of a rascally set of owners.

1928 Amer. Mercury Oct. 202/2 He would rush to the door with a tragic-comic exclamation in Italian.

1958 L. W. Lindt tr. B. Walter G. Mahler iii. 116 In his First and Fifth symphonies, the funeral march carries a singular, tragic-ironic meaning.

1980 D. G. Coleman Chaste Muse vii. 94 The fatal hamartia in the tragic-epic sonnets.

2005 Time Out N.Y. 5 May 162/2 A bisexual Buddhist vampire..and the ghosts of three murdered lesbian nuns are among the dramatis personae of Blair Fell's tragic-camp serial comedy.

C2.

tragic-comedy n. = tragicomedy n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > a tragi-comedy

tragicomedya1586

tragico-comedy1603

tragic-comedy1631

comi-tragedy1864

tragi-comedietta1864

comico-tragedy1880

1631 J. Mabbe (title) The Spanish Bawd, represented in Celestina: or, The Tragicke-Comedy of Calisto and Melibea.

1669 J. Denham Cato Major iii. 40 On the World's Stage, when our applause grows high, For acting here, life's Tragick Comedy.

1732 Comedian Apr. 4 I shall look on the whole World as the Scene of Action on which a continual Tragic-comedy is represented.

1775 D. Garrick May-Day 36 O yes, my dear!—your tragic-comedy.

1826 W. Scott Let. 6 Feb. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1838) IV. i. 5 One most laughable part of our tragic comedy was, that every friend in the world came formally, just as they do here when a relation dies.

1919 S. M. Ellis George Meredith (1920) xii. 269 She rose to the supreme height of Tragic-Comedy and a few months later married the man whose hands were stained with the blood of her lover.

2007 J. Wallace Cambr. Introd. Trag. ii. 57 Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, designated comedies in the First Folio but nowadays known rather as ‘problem’ plays or tragic-comedies.

tragic flaw n. a character flaw that brings about the protagonist's downfall in a tragedy; also in extended use; cf. hamartia n.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > part or character > [noun] > quality of character in play

tragic flaw1913

hamartia1927

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > an error, mistake > [noun] > of character

tragic flaw1913

1913 L. Cooper Aristotle on Art of Poetry ii. 40 For Mary, the tragic flaw of the hero, described as an ‘error of judgment’, or a ‘shortcoming’, needs immediate illustration. The single Greek word, hamartia, lays the emphasis upon the want of insight within the man, but is elastic enough to mean also the outward fault resulting from it.

1950 W. Farnham Shakespeare's Tragic Frontier i. 4 In Brutus then, Shakespeare discovered the noble hero with a tragic flaw.

1988 U. Varma in A. Ram Perspectives A. Miller vii. 92 Stubbornness and refusal to make compromises are the two tragic flaws in Willy's character which lead him to partial madness and finally self-destruction.

2012 Sunday Times (Nexis) 11 Mar. 21 Does your favourite band have a tragic flaw at its heart? Will the same thing that initially made them successful one day tear them apart?

tragic irony n. the incongruity created when the tragic significance of a character's speech or actions is revealed to the audience or reader but unknown to the character concerned; this incongruity as a literary device; cf. dramatic irony n. at dramatic adj. and n. Additions. Sometimes distinguished from dramatic irony as referring only to irony in a character's speech (rather than irony in actions or circumstances); sometimes used more widely to refer to any dramatic irony in a tragedy.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > plot > parts of plot

envoy1616

undermirth1640

counter-turn1651

under-walk1651

deus ex machina1697

happy ending1748

dénouement1752

anagnorisis1783

comic relief1783

by-play1812

tragic irony1833

by-plot1851

dramatic irony1881

plot point1909

cliff-hanging1945

subtext1960

1833 C. Thirlwall in Philol. Museum 2 493 The contrast between man with his hopes, fears, wishes, and undertakings, and a dark, inflexible fate, affords abundant room for the exhibition of tragic irony.

1848 tr. in Bibliotheca Sacra & Theol. Rev. Aug. 496 I liken it to a peculiarity of Sophocles, that has been called his tragic irony. It consists in this, that the characters of the piece in their delusion are made to utter ambiguous speeches; to themselves indeed, only the one sense is clear, which becomes their presumption, but to the spectator the other too, that predicts their destruction.

1990 J. Cohen Voices of Israel iv. 134 There is a wonderfully muted tragic irony that develops as the novel progresses. Toni and Rudi remain completely preoccupied with the vicissitudes of the trip..yet the reader knows that..the two of them are travelling to their deaths.

2007 M. Montgomery et al. Ways of Reading (ed. 3) xxv. 315 An attentive reader of the passage..will recognize or experience the same sense of tragic irony that an audience will.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	tragic
释义	tragicadj.n. Brit. /ˈtradʒɪk/, U.S. /ˈtrædʒɪk/ Forms: 1500s–1600s tragicke, 1500s–1600s tragik, 1500s–1600s tragike, 1500s–1600s tragique, 1500s–1700s tragick, 1600s tradgike, 1600s– tragic. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French tragique; Latin tragicus. Etymology: < (i) Middle French, French tragique (adjective) of, relating to, or of the nature of tragedy in drama or literature (a1374), (of an author) that composes tragedies (a1383; the use in sense ‘catastrophic, disastrous, devastating’ is not paralleled until later than in English: 1569), (noun) writer of tragedies (1550), that which is tragic (although this is first attested slightly later than in English: 1679), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin tragicus of or belonging to tragedy, represented in tragedy, suitable to tragedy, tragic in style < ancient Greek τραγικός of or for tragedy, stately, majestic, in Hellenistic Greek also pompous, apparently < τράγος he-goat (see tragus n.) + -ικός -ic suffix, after τραγῳδία tragedy n. Compare Catalan tràgic (15th cent.), Spanish trágico (a1428 as noun in sense ‘writer of tragedies’, 1440 as adjective), Portuguese trágico (a1595), Italian tragico (1516, earliest in sense A. 1a), adjectives. Compare earlier tragical adj.With the use as noun compare classical Latin tragicus (masculine) tragic actor, tragic poet, ancient Greek τραγικός (masculine) tragic poet, τραγική (feminine) serious poetry, Middle French tragique tragic dramatist (1579 in the passage translated in quot. 1594 at sense B. 1b), and also tragical n. A. adj. 1. a. Of or relating to an event, situation, etc., that causes great suffering, destruction, or distress, esp. one that involves death on a large scale or premature death; catastrophic, disastrous, devastating. Cf. tragical adj. 1a.In early use frequently more narrowly: sorrowful, sad; involving the downfall or death of a powerful or important person; resembling the events of a tragedy in drama or literature. In early use also: †murderous, brutal (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [adjective] > calamitous or disastrous unholda1350 blacka1387 unhappyc1386 mischievousc1390 mischieffula1400 tragicalc1525 tragic1533 calamitous1545 mistempered1570 disadventurous1590 ominous1594 dismal1599 disastrous1601 ill-starredc1704 disventurousa1739 catastrophal1842 1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. 100 Ane notabill exempill of maist terribil and tragik [L. sceleris tragici] cruelte. 1545 G. Joye Expos. Daniel (viii.) f. 129^v Noble valeant princes..haue there bene, which at last..haue had a miserable tragik ende. 1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 v. vi. 28 Better can my brest abide thy daggers point, Then can mine eares that tragike historie. 1639 N. N. tr. J. Du Bosc Compl. Woman ii. 80 The Tragick effects of this levity. 1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus xiii. 203 The King..whose injuries they return in violent and tragick Vengeances on their insolent Annoyers. 1765 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) II. iii. 152 The tragic death of his royal protector. 1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxvii. 30 After his tragic death..the archbishop of Milan was dispatched..to the court of Treves. 1850 T. Carlyle Latter-day Pamphlets v. 50 In these tragic days. 1872 J. Yeats Growth Commerce 294 The tragic fate of many bold men. 1884 Cent. Mag. Jan. 375/1 Their pale, gaunt features and stooping shoulders tell a tragic story. 1907 F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (ed. 2 reissued) I. 98 Throughout his short life to its tragic close. 1950 Life 15 May 158/2 The Spanish Civil War brought a tragic end to this life. 1990 J. Bishop & M. Waldholz Genome v. 103 This tragic disorder is a gradual, relentless wasting of the muscles that begins in early childhood and almost always ends fatally in early adulthood. 2005 Dunoon Observer & Argyllshire Standard 15 July 1/2 We are all shocked and distressed to hear of this tragic accident. b. Exhibiting, characterized by, or suffering great distress, misfortune, or sorrow; extremely unhappy. Cf. tragical adj. 1b. In later use frequently hyperbolic. Sometimes overlapping with sense A. 2b. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > sorrow or grief > [adjective] > characterized by sorrow sadc1400 languorousc1475 tragicala1700 melpomenish1801 sorryful1821 tragic1848 the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective] > gloomy or depressing darkOE unmerryOE deathlyc1225 dolefulc1275 elengec1275 dreicha1300 coolc1350 cloudyc1374 sada1375 colda1400 deadlya1400 joylessc1400 unjoyful?c1400 disconsolatea1413 mournfula1425 funeralc1425 uncheerfulc1449 dolent1489 dolesome1533 heavy-hearted1555 glum1558 ungladsome1558 black1562 pleasureless1567 dern1570 plaintive?1570 glummish1573 cheerless1575 comfortless1576 wintry1579 glummy1580 funebral1581 discouraging1584 dernful?1591 murk1596 recomfortless1596 sullen1597 amating1600 lugubrious1601 dusky1602 sable1603 funebrial1604 damping1607 mortifying1611 tearful?1611 uncouth1611 dulsome1613 luctual1613 dismal1617 winterous1617 unked1620 mopish1621 godforsaken?1623 uncheerly1627 funebrious1630 lugubrous1632 drearisome1633 unheartsome1637 feral1641 drear1645 darksome1649 sadding1649 saddening1650 disheartening1654 funebrous1654 luctiferous1656 mestifical1656 tristifical1656 sooty1657 dreary1667 tenebrose1677 clouded1682 tragicala1700 funereal1707 gloomy1710 sepulchrala1711 dumpishc1717 bleaka1719 depressive1727 lugubre1727 muzzy1728 dispiriting1733 uncheery1760 unconsolatory1760 unjolly1764 Decemberly1765 sombre1768 uncouthie1768 depressing1772 unmirthful1782 sombrous1789 disanimating1791 Decemberish1793 grey1794 uncheering1796 ungenial1796 uncomforting1798 disencouraginga1806 stern1812 chilling1815 uncheered1817 dejecting1818 mopey1821 desponding1828 wisht1829 leadening1835 unsportful1837 demoralizing1840 Novemberish1840 frigid1844 morne1844 tragic1848 wet-blanketty1848 morgue1850 ungladdeneda1851 adusk1856 smileless1858 soul-sick1858 Novemberya1864 saturnine1863 down1873 lacklustre1883 Heaven-abandoneda1907 downbeat1952 doomy1967 1848 Fraser's Mag. Aug. 170/2 ‘If you do not write to me, cher ami, what shall I think?’ He looked up to me; oh, such a tragic look! 1876 L. Stephen Hist. Eng. Thought 18th Cent. II. 372 Swift..is the most tragic figure in our literature. Beside the deep agony of his soul, all other suffering..is pale and colourless. 1881 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 17 Sept. 16/1 This gloomy-looking, tragic young fellow. 1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 16/1 Lafe's expression grew tragic, and Jinnie hurried on with her tale. 1954 C. Beaton Glass of Fashion viii. 150 Her greatest allure lay in the fact that..there was something a little tragic about her. 1976 B. Ruby Ruby in Rough 22 The Rollinses were a tragic family, with a son who would later go to prison for murder. 1988 R. Rendell Veiled One (1989) vii. 99 Dorothy Sanders was waiting for him, her face tragic with woe. 1994 Independent (Nexis) 9 Dec. (Comment section) 18 My five-year-old let out a tragic wail and burst into tears. ‘I've lost my Christmas presents.’ c. In weakened sense: unfortunate, regrettable, lamentable; pathetic, pitiable. Now also (colloquial): pathetically inadequate or unfashionable (cf. sad adj. 7). ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > regret > [adjective] > regrettable regrettable1603 desirable1652 sad1664 tragic1868 1868 Fraser's Mag. Jan. 127/2 To take an Irish girl,..and place her among the furniture of a handsome dwelling, with orders to clean the same,..must be a beginning of troubles to the luckless mistress quite tragic to contemplate. 1886 W. D. Howells Indian Summer xviii. 308 She dreams of restoring my youth somehow... It's pretty of her, but it's terribly pathetic—it's tragic. 1918 J. Hay Mrs Marden's Ordeal xx. 217 Judith said it was tragic, the way beautiful women never seemed to be able to keep from being found out! 1954 Ld. Cherwell in B. Dixon From Creation to Chaos (1989) 23 It would be really amusing (if it were not so tragic) to see how arts men..have the impudence to look down upon people who know far more about the arts subjects than the arts men do of technology. 1990 Folk Roots Aug. 41/2 It would be tragic to ignore this Texan singer/songwriter's debut. 1995 Maxim July 129 The Bradys..sport the same tragic early-seventies quiffs, boast wardrobes packed with polyester flares, and talk in absurd sitcom gagspeak. 2010 N.Y. Mag. 8 Mar. 49/1 The log-shaped coconut-cream doughnuts (with a tragic limequat marmalade on the side) had been mercifully banished from the menu. 2. a. Of, relating to, or of the nature of tragedy in drama or literature; that is a tragedy; that composes, acts in, or features in a tragedy or tragedies. Cf. tragical adj. 3. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [adjective] > tragedy tragediousa1513 tragediala1529 tragedical1548 tragical1559 tragic1563 cothurnical1599 cothurnal1602 buskined1603 cothurnic1607 polytragic1607 cothurnate1612 cothurnian1661 tragediac1782 cothurned1882 pretragic1939 1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Collingbourne sig. X.v^v Witnes theyr Satyr sharpe, and tragicke playes. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. xii. sig. Oo2 Yclad in costly garments, fit for tragicke Stage. a1637 B. Jonson tr. Horace Art of Poetrie 128 in Wks. (1640) III Yet Comick matter shunnes to be exprest In Tragicke verse. 1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. ii. 16 Euripides..lastly converted himself to Tragick poesy. 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 315. ¶10 The Ancient Tragick Writers. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 31 July (1965) I. 416 The Tragick story [of Hero and Leander] that you are well acquainted with. 1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 156. ⁋10 That the tragick and comick affections have been moved alternately with equal force, and that no plays have oftener filled the eye with tears. a1780 J. Harris Philol. Inq. (1781) ii. vii. 153 That pity and terror are the true tragic passions; that they truly bear that name, and are necessarily diffused through every fable truly tragic. 1781 R. Fitzpatrick in R. B. Sheridan Critic Prol. sig. A2 The Tragick Queen, to please a tasteless crow'd, Had learn'd to bellow, rant, and roar so loud. 1827 J. W. Donaldson Buckham's Theatre of Greeks (ed. 2) Pref. 6 The..Tragic and Comic metres. 1880 Scribner's Monthly Dec. 316/2 He is an actor of great emotional and even tragic power. 1900 Cent. Mag. Feb. 646/2 But tragic novels are poor sellers. 1961 K. Tynan Curtains i. 69 A dramatist could inject a shot of colloquialism into a tragic aria without courting bathos. 1990 Daughters of Sarah Jan. 29/1 The great male tragic heroes of the world's literature. 2011 Times (Nexis) 11 Apr. 19 A play or film—tragic or comic—which connects and astonishes can raise you up for days. b. Relating to the elevated or dignified style of tragedy; designating this style; serious, stately; (later also) affectedly elevated, grandiose, pompous; (of language) grandiloquent, rhetorical. Cf. tragical adj. 2. Now rare. Sometimes overlapping with sense A. 1b. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > lofty or grandiloquent magnificenta1460 statelya1525 magnifical1533 tragical1533 lofty1565 tragic1566 sublime1586 over-high1587 magnific1589 heroic1590 buskina1593 grandiloquous1593 full-mouthed1594 high-pitched1594 buskined1595 full-mouth1595 high-borne1596 altisonant1612 Roman1619 high-sounding1624 transcendent1631 magniloquent1640 loud1651 altiloquent1656 grandiloquent1656 largiloquent1656 altisonous1661 tall1670 elevate1673 grandisonous1674 sounding1683 exalted1684 grandisonant1684 grandific1727 magniloquous1727 orotund1799 superb1825 spread eagle1839 grandiose1840 magnisonanta1843 togated1868 elevated1875 mandarin1959 1566 T. Drant tr. Horace Medicinable Morall sig. E.v^v And Polleo, the princely iestes, in loftie Iambiques maye By vertue of that gracious verse, in tragike wyse displaye. 1595 W. Covell Polimanteia sig. Q2 Take a tragicke stile, & mourne for the trulie Hon. Ferdinandos death. 1652 J. Hall tr. Longinus Περι Ὑψους 35 We see a many of those that would be thought no small Oratours swell in a Tragick manner. 1684 W. Winstanley England's Worthies: Shakespeare 345 Never any exprest a more lofty and Tragick height. 1708 N. Rowe Royal Convert iii. i. 31 Bid 'em be swift, and dress their bloody Altars With ev'ry Circumstance of Tragick Pomp. 1754 London Mag. July 354/1 The short pert trip of the affected beau, or the haughty tragic step of the more solemn fop. 1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott xix (note) Her [sc. Mrs. Siddons'] tragic exclamation to a footboy during a dinner,..‘You've brought me water, boy, I asked for beer’. 1888 A. K. Green Behind Closed Doors vi. 79 He wasn't tragic, not a bit of it. 1904 Speaker 1 Oct. 3/2 Talma is remembered because of..Napoleon, who..imitated the stateliness of his tragic demeanour when he wished to appear an Emperor in every one of his rather few inches. B. n. 1. a. = tragedian n. 2. Somewhat rare. Not recorded in 17th and 18th centuries. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > actor > [noun] > actor in specific type of play comedy player1550 tragedy player1552 comediant1568 tragic1577 tragedian1590 comedian1603 comic1619 interludera1627 pastorista1627 tragicomediana1627 tragedy actor1690 low comedian1740 tragedy man1784 exodiary1793 farcer1813 monopolylogist1830 stock actor1839 beneficiaire1841 monologuist1853 monologist1858 burlesquer1869 opera-bouffer1870 low comedy1885 knockabout1887 farceur1889 folk-player1936 1577 R. E. tr. P. Le Choyselat Disc. Housebandrie sig. Dij I saie not prodigall, as of Æsope [sc. Clodius Aesopus] the Tragike [Fr. Esope tragicque], with his platter of small Birdes, whereof Plinie maketh mention in the tenth booke of his Naturall Historie. 1587 J. Higgins Mirour for Magistrates (new ed.) Forrex i Complayne I may with tragiques on y^e stage. 1843 W. M. Thackeray Ravenswing vi, in Fraser's Mag. Aug. 201/1 ‘That he is,’ said Canterfield, the first tragic. 1993 H. A. Kelly Ideas & Forms of Trag. iii. 67 A house in the theater..where comics and tragics sang, and histrions and mimes danced. b. = tragedian n. 1. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun] > writer of tragedy tragedian?c1400 tragedya1464 tragedy writer1552 tragic1594 tragedist1802 tragedianess1822 1594 R. Ashley tr. L. le Roy Interchangeable Course v. f. 69 For besides the Heroicks which haue written of diuers matters..there hath bin a great companie of Tragicks [Fr. Tragiques], Comicks [etc.]. a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. ii. §5. 203 Whereof two Tragicks haue giuen vs two notable instances. 1684 tr. F. Hédelin d'Aubignac Whole Art of Stage ii. vii. 113 The three Greek Tragicks, Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles. 1737 R. Savage Of Public Spirit 7 With lib'ral Light the Tragic charms the Age. 1827 J. W. Donaldson Buckham's Theatre of Grks. (ed. 2) Pref. 5 To give the student an idea of the manner in which he is expected to read the Tragics. 1922 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 218 It would be futile to compare the tragedy of Corneille and Racine to that of Sophocles and Euripides. The French tragics seldom reach the bedrock of human nature. 2008 Rev. Metaphysics 61 642 The great tragics themselves, irrespective of the subject-matter chosen, ultimately praised reconciliation and justice. 2. With the. That which is tragic; the tragic style or genre. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > [noun] > tragedy > tragic style tragical1567 buskin1579 tragic1674 cothurnus1852 cothurn1856 1674 T. Rymer tr. R. Rapin Refl. Aristotle's Treat. Poesie 71 Aristotle distinguishes Poesie into three divers kinds of perfect Poems, the Epick, the Tragick, and the Comick [Fr. l'Epopée, la Tragedie, & la Comedie]. a1687 H. More Acct. Virtue (1690) i. xi. 69 From this Fountain sprung up Satyrical Poetry, even as from the Effects of Love and Courage, came the Epic and the Tragic. 1786 tr. Abbé Blanchet et al. Tales from French I. Pref. p. i The mixture of the humorous, the satiric, the serious, and the tragic, will prevent lassitude. 1821 New Monthly Mag. 3 329/2 We have before only seen Mrs. West in the tragic and the sentimental, both of which she too often deepens into unbearable sadness. 1872 J. Morley Voltaire iii. 123 Sometimes they failed of reaching the tragic, through excessive fear of passing its limits. 1949 Billboard 29 Oct. 125/2 Acuff endows this ballad of a convict about to be hung with a rare sense of the tragic. 2001 Brill's Content Apr. 100/3 The book's early chapters have a sepia-tinged hint of the romantic and occasionally the tragic. †3. A tragic poem or drama. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > a tragedy tragedya1450 tragica1679 goat-singing1789 trago-drama1793 melo-tragedy1818 tragedietta1836 society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > poem or piece of poetry > narrative poem > [noun] > other types of narrative poem comedya1413 tragica1679 lai1774 fabliau1804 dream poem1850 parable-poem1884 dream vision1906 corrido1911 toast1962 a1679 R. Wild Benefice (1689) i. 9 Thine [sc. Ben Jonson's] are the Tragicks and the Comick Lays; And thou'rt th'Refiner of our Drossy Phrase. 1709 M. Prior Poems Several Occasions 137 The Man in graver Tragic known. 1755 in R. Dodsley Coll. Poems IV. 120 Ye poets so lofty..Who In epics and tragics..Utter sounds by mere mortals not well understood. 1856 R. W. Emerson Jrnl. 9 Jan. (1913) IX. 8 I must give my wisdom a comic form, instead of tragics or elegiacs. 4. †a. Tragic fate, downfall. Cf. tragedy n. 5. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > necessity > fate or destiny as determining events > [noun] > that which is ordained by fate > adverse fate or doom doomc1400 tragica1699 a1699 J. Kirkton Secret & True Hist. Church Scotl. (1817) viii. 310 This was her miserable tragick. b. A tragic event, a disaster. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck > instance of misfortune or ill-luck > dreadful or severe tragedy1509 calamity1552 disaster1567 fatality1648 stroke1686 catastrophe1748 tragic1847 big one1978 meltdown1979 1847 A. H. Clough Let. June in Poems & Prose Remains (1869) I. 113 Whatever comes of it—pain and grief, suicide and murder, all the tragics you can think of. 1967 M. J. Molloy Visiting House i., in R. Hogan Seven Irish Plays 39 Oh dear!.. Tim, this is an awful tragic! 5. Originally and chiefly Australian. A boring or socially inept person, esp. one who pursues a solitary interest with obsessive dedication. Also more neutrally (with modifying noun): an avid fan, a devotee. Cf. sense A. 1c. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [noun] > boring or socially inept person weenie1956 anorak1984 spod1989 tragic1998 1998 Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. 44/3 Sportspeople are often bemused and embarrassed by the tragics... Believing themselves unutterably lucky, performers rarely know how to respond to the tragics' worship. 2001 Australian (Nexis) 24 Jan. 22 It was all over in 86 minutes... 6-4 6-3 6-0..(though tennis tragics might recall the actual score was 6-3 6-4 6-0). 2004 T. Winton Turning 118 At school she's not a complete tragic, but she's not exactly popular either. 2010 Sunday Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 26 Sept. 63 By the late 1960s the live-music tragic would be working at Consolidated Rock Agency. Compounds C1. a. Forming parasynthetic adjectives, as tragic-fated, tragic-storied, tragic-voiced, etc. ΚΠ 1859 Englishwoman's Rev. 15 Jan. 34/3 Tragic-fated widow of Prasatagus. 1898 V. J. Daley At Dawn & Dusk 25 Gems that Rajahs dead had won and hoarded; Tragic-storied, splendid jewels. 1908 Daily Chron. 19 Nov. 3/2 At the time of the tragic-fated Struensee. 1941 Times Lit. Suppl. 17 May 237/1 An unhappy young Austrian refugee, a tragic-faced and rather high-flown creature. 2012 Afr. News (Nexis) 11 Apr. It is always easier to show an aid worker saving an African child overlaid by a tragic-voiced reporter. b. In combination with another adjective, with the sense ‘tragic and ——’, as tragic-comical, tragic-humorous, tragic-ironic, etc. Cf. tragi- comb. form. ΚΠ 1768 A. Maclaine tr. J. L. von Mosheim Eccl. Hist. (ed. 2) III. 107 These tragic-comical spectacles, though they amused and affected in a certain manner the gazing populace, [etc.]. 1839 W. Irving Mountjoy in Knickerbocker Mag. Nov. 412 Whenever my father looked me in the face, it was with such a tragic-comical leer. 1865 R. Tubbs tr. J. Schlüter Gen. Hist. Music xii. 193 These three grandest of Mozart's symphonies (the first lyrical, the second tragic-pathetic, and the third of ethical import). 1876 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 516/2 An event once seeming to possess all the magnitude of the tragic-heroic, now dwindled into melodrama. 1902 ‘G. F. Monkshood’ & G. Gamble R. Kipling (ed. 3) 155 Some side scene..of the great tragic-ironic. 1906 Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 3/4 The punishing, in a tragic-humorous manner, of a rascally set of owners. 1928 Amer. Mercury Oct. 202/2 He would rush to the door with a tragic-comic exclamation in Italian. 1958 L. W. Lindt tr. B. Walter G. Mahler iii. 116 In his First and Fifth symphonies, the funeral march carries a singular, tragic-ironic meaning. 1980 D. G. Coleman Chaste Muse vii. 94 The fatal hamartia in the tragic-epic sonnets. 2005 Time Out N.Y. 5 May 162/2 A bisexual Buddhist vampire..and the ghosts of three murdered lesbian nuns are among the dramatis personae of Blair Fell's tragic-camp serial comedy. C2. tragic-comedy n. = tragicomedy n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > a tragi-comedy tragicomedya1586 tragico-comedy1603 tragic-comedy1631 comi-tragedy1864 tragi-comedietta1864 comico-tragedy1880 1631 J. Mabbe (title) The Spanish Bawd, represented in Celestina: or, The Tragicke-Comedy of Calisto and Melibea. 1669 J. Denham Cato Major iii. 40 On the World's Stage, when our applause grows high, For acting here, life's Tragick Comedy. 1732 Comedian Apr. 4 I shall look on the whole World as the Scene of Action on which a continual Tragic-comedy is represented. 1775 D. Garrick May-Day 36 O yes, my dear!—your tragic-comedy. 1826 W. Scott Let. 6 Feb. in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1838) IV. i. 5 One most laughable part of our tragic comedy was, that every friend in the world came formally, just as they do here when a relation dies. 1919 S. M. Ellis George Meredith (1920) xii. 269 She rose to the supreme height of Tragic-Comedy and a few months later married the man whose hands were stained with the blood of her lover. 2007 J. Wallace Cambr. Introd. Trag. ii. 57 Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, designated comedies in the First Folio but nowadays known rather as ‘problem’ plays or tragic-comedies. tragic flaw n. a character flaw that brings about the protagonist's downfall in a tragedy; also in extended use; cf. hamartia n. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > part or character > [noun] > quality of character in play tragic flaw1913 hamartia1927 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > an error, mistake > [noun] > of character tragic flaw1913 1913 L. Cooper Aristotle on Art of Poetry ii. 40 For Mary, the tragic flaw of the hero, described as an ‘error of judgment’, or a ‘shortcoming’, needs immediate illustration. The single Greek word, hamartia, lays the emphasis upon the want of insight within the man, but is elastic enough to mean also the outward fault resulting from it. 1950 W. Farnham Shakespeare's Tragic Frontier i. 4 In Brutus then, Shakespeare discovered the noble hero with a tragic flaw. 1988 U. Varma in A. Ram Perspectives A. Miller vii. 92 Stubbornness and refusal to make compromises are the two tragic flaws in Willy's character which lead him to partial madness and finally self-destruction. 2012 Sunday Times (Nexis) 11 Mar. 21 Does your favourite band have a tragic flaw at its heart? Will the same thing that initially made them successful one day tear them apart? tragic irony n. the incongruity created when the tragic significance of a character's speech or actions is revealed to the audience or reader but unknown to the character concerned; this incongruity as a literary device; cf. dramatic irony n. at dramatic adj. and n. Additions. Sometimes distinguished from dramatic irony as referring only to irony in a character's speech (rather than irony in actions or circumstances); sometimes used more widely to refer to any dramatic irony in a tragedy. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > plot > parts of plot envoy1616 undermirth1640 counter-turn1651 under-walk1651 deus ex machina1697 happy ending1748 dénouement1752 anagnorisis1783 comic relief1783 by-play1812 tragic irony1833 by-plot1851 dramatic irony1881 plot point1909 cliff-hanging1945 subtext1960 1833 C. Thirlwall in Philol. Museum 2 493 The contrast between man with his hopes, fears, wishes, and undertakings, and a dark, inflexible fate, affords abundant room for the exhibition of tragic irony. 1848 tr. in Bibliotheca Sacra & Theol. Rev. Aug. 496 I liken it to a peculiarity of Sophocles, that has been called his tragic irony. It consists in this, that the characters of the piece in their delusion are made to utter ambiguous speeches; to themselves indeed, only the one sense is clear, which becomes their presumption, but to the spectator the other too, that predicts their destruction. 1990 J. Cohen Voices of Israel iv. 134 There is a wonderfully muted tragic irony that develops as the novel progresses. Toni and Rudi remain completely preoccupied with the vicissitudes of the trip..yet the reader knows that..the two of them are travelling to their deaths. 2007 M. Montgomery et al. Ways of Reading (ed. 3) xxv. 315 An attentive reader of the passage..will recognize or experience the same sense of tragic irony that an audience will. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adj.n.1533
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