Tragedy Definition
trăjĭ-dē
tragedies
noun
tragedies
A serious play or drama typically dealing with the problems of a central character, leading to an unhappy or disastrous ending brought on, as in ancient drama, by fate and a tragic flaw in this character, or, in modern drama, usually by moral weakness, psychological maladjustment, or social pressures.
Webster's New World
The genre made up of such works.
American Heritage
Such plays collectively.
Webster's New World
The branch of drama having to do with such plays.
Webster's New World
The writing, acting, or theoretical principles of this kind of drama.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
Other Word Forms of Tragedy
Noun
Singular:
tragedy
Plural:
tragediesOrigin of Tragedy
-
From the Middle English tragedie, from the Old French tragedie, from the Latin tragoedia, from the Ancient Greek τραγῳδία (tragōidia, “epic play, tragedy"), from τράγος (tragos, “male goat") + ᾠδή (ōidÄ“, “song"), a reference to the goat-satyrs of the theatrical plays of the Dorians.
From Wiktionary
-
Middle English tragedie from Old French from Latin tragoedia from Greek tragōidiā tragos goat aoidē, ōidē song wed-2 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Related Articles
Find Similar Words
Find similar words to tragedy using the buttons below.