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tragedy - 5 dictionary results

trag⋅e⋅dy

  [traj-i-dee]
Use tragedy in a Sentence
–noun, plural -dies.
1. a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction.
2. the branch of the drama that is concerned with this form of composition.
3. the art and theory of writing and producing tragedies.
4. any literary composition, as a novel, dealing with a somber theme carried to a tragic conclusion.
5. the tragic element of drama, of literature generally, or of life.
6. a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; calamity; disaster: the tragedy of war.
Origin:
1325–75; ME tragedie < ML tragēdia, L tragoedia < Gk tragōidía, equiv. to trág(os) goat + ōid song (see ode ) + -ia -y 3 ; reason for name variously explained
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trag·e·dy   (trāj'ĭ-dē)   
n.   pl. trag·e·dies
    1. A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.
    2. The genre made up of such works.
    3. The art or theory of writing or producing these works.
  2. A play, film, television program, or other narrative work that portrays or depicts calamitous events and has an unhappy but meaningful ending.
  3. A disastrous event, especially one involving distressing loss or injury to life: an expedition that ended in tragedy, with all hands lost at sea.
  4. A tragic aspect or element.

[Middle English tragedie, from Old French, from Latin tragoedia, from Greek tragōidiā : tragos, goat + aoidē, ōidē, song; see wed-2 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Tragedy

Trag"e*dy\, n.; pl. Tragedies. [OE. tragedie, OF. tragedie, F. trag['e]die, L. tragoedia, Gr. ?, fr. ? a tragic poet and singer, originally, a goat singer; ? a goat (perhaps akin to ? to gnaw, nibble, eat, and E. trout) + ? to sing; from the oldest tragedies being exhibited when a goat was sacrificed, or because a goat was the prize, or because the actors were clothed in goatskins. See Ode.]

1. A dramatic poem, composed in elevated style, representing a signal action performed by some person or persons, and having a fatal issue; that species of drama which represents the sad or terrible phases of character and life.

Tragedy is to say a certain storie, As olde bookes maken us memorie, Of him that stood in great prosperitee And is yfallen out of high degree Into misery and endeth wretchedly. --Chaucer.

All our tragedies are of kings and princes. --Jer. Taylor.

tragedy is poetry in its deepest earnest; comedy is poetry in unlimited jest. --Coleridge.

2. A fatal and mournful event; any event in which human lives are lost by human violence, more especially by unauthorized violence.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : tragedy
Spanish: tragedia,
German: die Tragödie,
Japanese: 悲劇
More Translations »

tragedy

A serious drama in which a central character, the protagonist — usually an important, heroic person — meets with disaster either through some personal fault or through unavoidable circumstances. In most cases, the protagonist's downfall conveys a sense of human dignity in the face of great conflict. Tragedy originated in ancient Greece in the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. In modern times, it achieved excellence with William Shakespeare in such works as Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. Twentieth-century tragedies include Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller, and Murder in the Cathedral, by T. S. Eliot.

Note: Aristotle argued that the proper effect of tragedy is catharsis — the purging of the emotions.
Note: In common usage, disasters of many kinds are called tragedies.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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tragedy 
c.1374, "play or other serious literary work with an unhappy ending," from O.Fr. tragedie (14c.), from L. tragedia "a tragedy," from Gk. tragodia "a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution," apparently lit. "goat song," from tragos "goat" + oide "song." The connection may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs. But many other theories have been made (including "singer who competes for a goat as a prize"), and even the "goat" connection is at times questioned. Meaning "any unhappy event, disaster" is from 1509.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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