Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Characteristic of or having to do with comedy.
  • adjective Of or relating to comic strips.
  • adjective Amusing; humorous.
  • noun A comedian.
  • noun A person whose behavior elicits laughter.
  • noun Comic strips.
  • noun A comic book.
  • noun A source of humor in art or life.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining or relating to or of the nature of comedy, as distinct from tragedy. See comedy and drama.
  • Raising mirth; fitted to excite merriment.
  • noun A comic actor or singer; a writer of comedies; a comical person.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Relating to comedy, as distinct from tragedy.
  • adjective Causing mirth; ludicrous.
  • noun obsolete A comedian.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective being funny
  • adjective related to comedy
  • noun A comedian
  • noun A cartoon story, a graphic novel
  • noun UK A children's newspaper

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of comedy
  • adjective arousing or provoking laughter
  • noun a professional performer who tells jokes and performs comical acts

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English comice, from Latin cōmicus, from Greek kōmikos, from kōmos, revel.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin comicus, from Ancient Greek κωμικός (komikos, "relating to comedy"), from κῶμος (kōmos, "carousal").

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Examples

Comments

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  • "The third male comes on, he's everything a comic should be except funny, about forty-five, rotund, evening dress, a flat cap, a glove on one hand, after each joke he transfers the glove to the other and says 'On the other hand', he ends up with a song that I forgot even as he sang it. He left an indelible blank on my mind."

    - Spike Milligan, 'Mussolini: My Part In His Downfall.'

    April 18, 2009