1
as in disaster
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction
the earthquake and the ensuing damage was the worst tragedy to ever befall the city
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in misfortune
bad luck or an example of this
it's the tragedy of many great artists not to be recognized for their genius until after they're dead
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tragedy
Just before the first-year anniversary of the tragedy, the families of victims and survivors reached a nearly $1 billion settlement.
—
Sam Gillette,
PEOPLE,
23 June 2026
Groups of amateur sleuths also cropped up in the hollows of tragedy to wrestle with the case and analyze rumors swarming the Horman family in online forums, echoing a familiar pattern of behavior on the internet in the face of long-unsolved criminal cases.
—
Danya Gainor,
CNN Money,
23 June 2026
These families and, to some extent, our community as a whole have been deeply impacted by this tragedy.
—
Meredith Deliso,
ABC News,
22 June 2026
People who have dealt with tragedy in the midst of the show being on the air, and are looking for comfort.
—
Megan Vick,
Variety,
22 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for tragedy
Sam Gillette,
PEOPLE,
23 June 2026
Groups of amateur sleuths also cropped up in the hollows of tragedy to wrestle with the case and analyze rumors swarming the Horman family in online forums, echoing a familiar pattern of behavior on the internet in the face of long-unsolved criminal cases.
—
Danya Gainor,
CNN Money,
23 June 2026
These families and, to some extent, our community as a whole have been deeply impacted by this tragedy.
—
Meredith Deliso,
ABC News,
22 June 2026
People who have dealt with tragedy in the midst of the show being on the air, and are looking for comfort.
—
Megan Vick,
Variety,
22 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for tragedy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tragedy
Noun
-
Aemond is a murderer, Aegon is a rapist; if either of them ends up on the Iron Throne for good, that would be a disaster.
-
On the dusty backroads of Radiator Springs, where Lightning McQueen and his pals live, a shower of meteors threatened to bring destruction upon the quarter-size cars in a scene that disaster movie king Roland Emmerich would endorse.
Noun
-
Repairing Furniture There are few misfortunes greater than scratching a new piece of dark wood furniture.
-
The Italian’s misfortune opened the door for teammate Russell to snatch P2 while Lando Norris in the McLaren took home third place, forming the first all-British podium since 1968.
Noun
-
Days before the five-year anniversary of the 2021 building collapse that killed 98 people in Surfside, the federal government has published findings that determined the structure of the Champlain Towers South condominium started failing about three weeks before the catastrophe.
-
Chile introduced a tax deduction for catastrophe insurance premiums and resilience retrofit investment.
Noun
-
To grade the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their relative natural disaster risks, five measures were developed that account for the frequency and damage of calamities, weighted against population and geographic size.
-
The calamity is the deadliest crash involving a B-52 bomber since 1982.
Noun
-
And just when things could not look rosier, the SaaS apocalypse occurred.
-
Not for the faint of heart, California’s Salton Sea conjures a sense of apocalypse.
Cite this Entry
“Tragedy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tragedy. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
