variants
also tragical
as in unfortunate
of a kind to cause great distress
in a tragic turn of events the area's sole remaining steel mill suddenly closed
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Recent Examples of tragic
Lost in the tragic human toll current ICE operations in Minnesota are having is the long-term damage the siege is doing to the state’s economic vitality.
—
Ellen Watters, Twin Cities, 15 Jan. 2026
Last week, civil rights activist Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent — a tragic reminder that justice work has human faces and deep, lasting impacts on the people who live it.
—David Williamson, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 Jan. 2026
Footage newly obtained by ABC News appears to show the moment that the man suspected of opening fire at Brown University in December fled the Ivy League campus following the tragic incident.
—Jared Kofsky, ABC News, 14 Jan. 2026
Mamdani would not speculate on whether DCS would have handled the incidents that led to two tragic shootings by NYPD officers last week, but with clear guidelines for first response, no one will have to guess.
—Daniela Gilbert, New York Daily News, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tragic
Ellen Watters, Twin Cities, 15 Jan. 2026
Last week, civil rights activist Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent — a tragic reminder that justice work has human faces and deep, lasting impacts on the people who live it.
—David Williamson, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 Jan. 2026
Footage newly obtained by ABC News appears to show the moment that the man suspected of opening fire at Brown University in December fled the Ivy League campus following the tragic incident.
—Jared Kofsky, ABC News, 14 Jan. 2026
Mamdani would not speculate on whether DCS would have handled the incidents that led to two tragic shootings by NYPD officers last week, but with clear guidelines for first response, no one will have to guess.
—Daniela Gilbert, New York Daily News, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tragic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tragic
unfortunate
Adjective
-
Their late concession of the winning penalty to Morgan Gibbs-White, above, was unfortunate.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Many unfortunate events were blamed on poison—the unexpected death of an enslaver or a slave, a spate of local deaths due to a virus or other disease, or problems on the plantation such as ill livestock or bad harvests.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Tragic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tragic. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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