Definitions

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

  • adjective Relating to or characteristic of dramatic tragedy or tragedies.
  • adjective Writing or performing in tragedy.
  • adjective Having the elements of tragedy; involving death, grief, or destruction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining or relating to tragedy; of the nature of tragedy: as, a tragic poem; the tragic drama.
  • Characteristic of tragedy.
  • Connected with or characterized by great calamity, cruelty, or bloodshed; mournful; dreadful; heart-rending.
  • Expressive of tragedy, death, or sorrow.
  • noun A writer of tragedy; a tragedian.
  • noun A tragedy; a tragic, drama.

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

  • noun obsolete A writer of tragedy.
  • noun obsolete A tragedy; a tragic drama.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to tragedy; of the nature or character of tragedy.
  • adjective Fatal to life; mournful; terrible; calamitous.
  • adjective Mournful; expressive of tragedy, the loss of life, or of sorrow.

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

  • adjective Causing great sadness or suffering.
  • adjective Relating to tragedy in a literary work.
  • adjective Involved in a tragedy.
  • noun obsolete A writer of tragedy.
  • noun obsolete A tragedy; a tragic drama.

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

  • adjective very sad; especially involving grief or death or destruction
  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of tragedy

Etymologies

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

[Latin tragicus, from Greek tragikos, from tragos, goat.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek τραγικός (tragikos, "of or relating to tragedy"), from τράγος (tragos, "male goat"), a reference to the goat-satyrs of the theatrical plays of the Dorians.

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Examples

  • This organization epitomizes the term tragic-comedy for it ignores appalling human rights abuses in Sudan,

    American Thinker 2009

  • One of his colleagues cautioned against overreacting to what he called a tragic and unusual accident.

    Lab Death Prompts Reviews Sophia Hollander 2011

  • Contrary to the almost mechanistic, rationalist view of human nature underpinning the neo-liberal, free-market vision, Brooks notes Taleb's more pessimistic, more conservative view: He subscribes to what he calls the tragic vision of humankind, which 'believes in the existence of inherent limitations and flaws in the way we think and act and requires an acknowledgement of this fact as a basis for any individual and collective action.'

    Archive 2008-10-01 Burke's Corner 2008

  • Senator Obama today said the death of 4,000 of our troops in Iraq represents what he called a tragic marker.

    CNN Transcript Mar 25, 2008 2008

  • Contrary to the almost mechanistic, rationalist view of human nature underpinning the neo-liberal, free-market vision, Brooks notes Taleb's more pessimistic, more conservative view: He subscribes to what he calls the tragic vision of humankind, which 'believes in the existence of inherent limitations and flaws in the way we think and act and requires an acknowledgement of this fact as a basis for any individual and collective action.'

    The tragic vision and the economic crisis Burke's Corner 2008

  • Mercury Energy says it regrets what it calls the tragic circumstances surrounding the death and will investigate further.

    CNN Transcript May 30, 2007 2007

  • Israel apologized for what it calls tragic deaths.

    CNN Transcript Jul 25, 2006 2006

  • The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, apologized Friday for what he called a "tragic and inexcusable rape that took place about a week ago."

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2011

  • Through their lawyers, the brothers expressed sorrow for what they called a tragic incident.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Through their lawyers, the brothers expressed sorrow for what they called a tragic incident.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

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