tragicomic

adjective

tragi·com·ic | \ ˌtra-ji-ˈkä-mik

How to pronounce tragicomic (audio)

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variants: or less commonly tragicomical \ ˌtra-ji-ˈkä-mi-kəl

How to pronounce tragicomic (audio)

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Definition of tragicomic

1 : of, relating to, or resembling tragicomedy

2 : manifesting both tragic and comic aspects

Examples of tragicomic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Fox makes it through all this with both light humor and deep introspection: The entire book is well woven in a rich tragicomic tapestry. — Porochista Khakpour, Washington Post, "Michael J. Fox mixes candor, humor and hope in his heartfelt new memoir," 24 Nov. 2020 Home for the Holidays, an underrated ’90s charmer about an ordinary visit home that turns into a tragicomic farce, offers a healthy mix of both. — David Sims, The Atlantic, "20 of the Best Films About Family for the Holidays," 21 Nov. 2020 With American movie theatres teetering on the edge of extinction and, in any case, shunted into irrelevance, a strange and tragicomic side effect is afflicting the art of film: the end of buzz. — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, "A Year Without Movie Buzz," 30 Oct. 2020 Trump went as its tragicomic reenactor, treating his audience to a performance that rhymed with many of the country’s darkest moments. — Brett Rosenberg, The New Republic, "The Small, Midwestern Town Taken Over by Fake Communists," 22 Oct. 2020 The documentary has a loose, tragicomic structure, made up of mocking scenes in which her cheerful dad dies in lurid ways—an air conditioner falls on his head, a loose girder slices open his neck, a car hits him. — David Sims, The Atlantic, "Making a Film About Your Father’s Death—While He’s Still Alive," 3 Oct. 2020 Susan, 56, a full-time comedian in Chicago, and Deena, 43, a part-time one in Cleveland, punctuate the dark with tragicomic quips on the absurdity of wanting to live but not knowing how. — USA Today, "Thousands of messages show what it really means to help someone who’s suicidal," 14 Sep. 2020 Samuel Beckett’s tragicomic play Waiting for Godot is about two tramps waiting on a country road by a leafless tree for somebody named Godot. — Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Festival of Books celebrates news that stays news," 22 Aug. 2020 Think of films such as Kevin Costner’s Open Range, a painterly tale of cowboys standing up to land barons, or John Maclean’s highly underrated Slow West, a gorgeous and tragicomic subversion of the genre’s alpha male heroism. — David Sims, The Atlantic, "Craving Wide Open Spaces? Watch a Western.," 30 Mar. 2020

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

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“Tragicomic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tragicomic. Accessed 2 Mar. 2021.

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