Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as tragicomic.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Having the characteristics of a tragicomedy

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective manifesting both tragic and comic aspects
  • adjective having pathetic as well as ludicrous characteristics

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Pearl left various tragicomical accounts of the long wide straight avenue driven through the center of Nanjing by the first bulldozer the city had ever seen.

    PEARL BUCK IN CHINA Hilary Spurling 2010

  • Compared to the farcical Polish "Duce" and his tragicomical blackshort minions, however, Szálasi's followers were far more fearsome.

    DBTL 19A: Testvér a Testvérért Johnny Pez 2010

  • Billboards touting the film are a tragicomical tableau of the state of the state: the grinning narco in his cowboy hat and white suit standing alongside a fictional version of the real-life "El Pozolero," the infamous Stewmaker, who disposed of corpses in a 50-gallon drum of lye.

    Letter from Mexico: In no mood for a fiesta 2010

  • Pearl left various tragicomical accounts of the long wide straight avenue driven through the center of Nanjing by the first bulldozer the city had ever seen.

    PEARL BUCK IN CHINA Hilary Spurling 2010

  • Compared to the farcical Polish "Duce" and his tragicomical blackshort minions, however, Szálasi's followers were far more fearsome.

    Archive 2010-01-01 Johnny Pez 2010

  • Mr. Monicelli's 1959 movie "The Great War" tells the tragicomical story of two young Italians - played by Gassman and Alberto Sordi - who try to avoid going to the front during World War I.

    Mario Monicelli, Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter, dies at 95 Alessandra Rizzo 2010

  • However, by skillfully exploiting this method, Kafka manages to lead us from poker-faced protocol to subjective angst, forming a bond between tragicomical protagonists and desperately smirking readers—only to alienate the characters even more, since the bond is unilateral: the persona can never leave the imaginary world and can therefore never link up with the real author and the real reader.

    The Metamorphosis, in The Penal Colony,and Other Stories Franz Kafka 2000

  • The personalities Preston touches upon range from the flashy prosecutor Pier Luigi Vigna to the devastated mother of one of the victims to the tragicomical chain of suspects.

    The Journalist and the Murderer 2006

  • The personalities Preston touches upon range from the flashy prosecutor Pier Luigi Vigna to the devastated mother of one of the victims to the tragicomical chain of suspects.

    The Journalist and the Murderer 2006

  • The personalities Preston touches upon range from the flashy prosecutor Pier Luigi Vigna to the devastated mother of one of the victims to the tragicomical chain of suspects.

    The Journalist and the Murderer 2006

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