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Seriocomic may have a modern ring to it, but our earliest evidence of the word in print is from 1783. Another "comic" word-heroicomic, meaning "comic by being ludicrously noble, bold, or elevated"-is slightly older; evidence of it dates to 1756. Both words are about a century younger than our third "comic" word, "tragicomic" ("manifesting both tragic and comic aspects"), which print evidence dates to 1683. (Evidence of the variant "tragicomical," however, dates all the way back to 1567.)

Examples of seriocomic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The film’s secret weapon, however, is the fifth Basco child — fellow artist and filmmaker Arianna — who narrates the seriocomic proceedings and provides the clear-eyed perspective of a sister in a household dominated by men. — Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 2022 That’s a really good line, seriocomic in an easy, truthful way, and that’s the film all over. — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 1 Feb. 2022 Schlesinger next proposed to take on James Leo Herlihy’s raw, seriocomic novel about Joe Buck, a lonely, naive dishwasher who comes to New York to seek his fortune as a stud for hire. — Washington Post, 29 May 2021 On the other hand, here’s another paradox: Seeing what may be Coppola’s least compelling film has a way of reminding you of all her better ones, especially in the seriocomic vein. — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 7 Oct. 2020 Now Coppola and Murray have teamed up again for a new seriocomic story working in an extremely minor key. — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 7 Oct. 2020 For Flora, this plays out in a series of seriocomic incidents involving love, politics, and parenting. — Mark Athitakis, USA TODAY, 27 Aug. 2019 Tragedy strikes on Oscar night, splitting the emotions of Best Supporting Actor nominee Michael Stratford (Brian Hutchison) in the world premiere of playwright Paul Rudnick’s seriocomic ensemble piece, Big Night. — Jordan Riefe, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Sep. 2017 Blair had tried to get financing for the seriocomic thriller for about a year, but was unable to coax famous-enough actors to satisfy studios and investors. — Ann Hornaday, The Denver Post, 25 Apr. 2017 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'seriocomic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.