Standard Lemma guide

tragicomic

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌtɹædʒɪˈkɒmɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌtɹædʒɪˈkɑmɪk/
  • rhymes with (Received Pronunciation) -ɒmɪk
  • rhymes with (General American) -ɑmɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: T R AE2 JH IH0 K AA1 M IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of, pertaining to, or resembling tragicomedy; having both tragic and comic aspects.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: comicotragic, comicotragical, jocoserious

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

of or relating to or characteristic of tragicomedy

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a playwright specializing in tragicomic drama

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

having pathetic as well as ludicrous characteristics--Joseph Conrad

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • her life...presented itself to me as a tragicomical adventure

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tragicomical

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

manifesting both tragic and comic aspects- B.R.Redman

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the tragicomic disparity...between's man's aspirations and his accomplishments

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: tragicomical

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Blend of tragic + comic.

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: ողբերգակատակերգական (oġbergakatakergakan) — related to tragicomedy
  • Catalan: tragicòmic — related to tragicomedy
  • Danish: tragikomisk — related to tragicomedy
  • Dutch: tragikomisch — related to tragicomedy
  • Estonian: halenaljakas — related to tragicomedy
  • Estonian: kurbnaljakas — related to tragicomedy
  • Finnish: surkuhupaisa — related to tragicomedy
  • French: tragicomique — related to tragicomedy
  • Galician: traxicómico — related to tragicomedy
  • German: tragikomisch — related to tragicomedy
  • Italian: tragicomico — related to tragicomedy
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tragikomisk — related to tragicomedy
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tragikomisk — related to tragicomedy
  • Polish: tragikomiczny — related to tragicomedy
  • Portuguese: tragicômico — related to tragicomedy
  • Russian: трагикоми́чный (tragikomíčnyj) — related to tragicomedy
  • Russian: трагикоми́ческий (tragikomíčeskij) — related to tragicomedy
  • Spanish: tragicómico — related to tragicomedy
  • Swedish: tragikomisk — related to tragicomedy
  • Swedish: sorglustig — related to tragicomedy
  • Ukrainian: трагікомі́чний (trahikomíčnyj) — related to tragicomedy
Real reading context

tragicomic in complete knowledge articles