TRAGEDY
Dictionary entry overview: What does tragedy mean?
• TRAGEDY (noun)
The noun TRAGEDY has 2 senses:
1. an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
2. drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity
Familiarity information: TRAGEDY used as a noun is rare.
Dictionary entry details
• TRAGEDY (noun)
Meaning:
An event resulting in great loss and misfortune
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural events
Synonyms:
calamity; catastrophe; tragedy; cataclysm; disaster
Context examples:
the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity / the earthquake was a disaster
Hypernyms ("tragedy" is a kind of...):
bad luck; misfortune (unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tragedy"):
tidal wave (an unusual (and often destructive) rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide)
visitation (any disaster or catastrophe)
plague (any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God))
meltdown (a disaster comparable to a nuclear meltdown)
kiss of death (something that is ruinous)
famine (a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death)
apocalypse (a cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil)
act of God; force majeure; inevitable accident; unavoidable casualty; vis major (a natural and unavoidable catastrophe that interrupts the expected course of events)
tsunami (a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave caused by an earthquake or volcanic eruption)
Meaning:
Drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("tragedy" is a kind of...):
drama (the literary genre of works intended for the theater)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tragedy"):
tragicomedy (a dramatic composition involving elements of both tragedy and comedy usually with the tragic predominating)
Antonym:
comedy (light and humorous drama with a happy ending)
