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tragical

 - 3 dictionary results

trag⋅ic

[traj-ik]
–adjective
1. characteristic or suggestive of tragedy: tragic solemnity.
2. extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic: a tragic plight.
3. dreadful, calamitous, disastrous, or fatal: a tragic event.
4. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of tragedy: the tragic drama.
5. acting in or writing tragedy: a tragic actor; a tragic poet.
6. the tragic, the element or quality of tragedy in literature, art, drama, etc.: lives that had never known anything but the tragic.
Also, trag⋅i⋅cal.


Origin:
1535–45; < L tragicus < Gk tragikós of tragedy, equiv. to trág(os) goat + -ikos -ic


trag⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb
trag⋅i⋅cal⋅ness, noun


2. distressing, pitiful.


1–3. comic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trag·i·cal   (trāj'ĭ-kəl)   
adj.  Tragic: "You take too tragical a view of matters" (John Fowles). "He assumes a sudden look of tragical sobriety" (Scott Turow).
trag'i·cal·ly adv., trag'i·cal·ness n.
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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Word Origin & History

tragic 
1545, "calamitous, disastrous, fatal," shortened from tragical (1489), modeled on L. tragicus, from Gk. tragikos "of or pertaining to tragedy," lit. "of or pertaining to a goat," and probably referring to a satyr impersonated by a goat singer or satyric actor (see tragedy).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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