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tragicomedy |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Tragi-comedy \Trag`i-com"e*dy\, n. [Cf. F. tragicom['e]die, L. tragicocomoedia See {Tragic}, and {Comedy}.] A kind of drama representing some action in which serious and comic scenes are blended; a composition partaking of the nature both of tragedy and comedy. The noble tragi-comedy of ``Measure for Measure.'' --Macaulay. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Drama \Dra"ma\ (?; 277), n. [L. drama, Gr ?, fr ? to do act cf Lith. daryti.] 1. A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by actors on the stage. A divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon. --Milton. 2. A series of real events invested with a dramatic unity and interest. ``The drama of war.'' --Thackeray. Westward the course of empire takes its way The four first acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day Time's noblest offspring is the last --Berkeley. The drama and contrivances of God's providence. --Sharp. 3. Dramatic composition and the literature pertaining to or illustrating it dramatic literature. Note: The principal species of the drama are {tragedy} and {comedy}; inferior species are {tragi-comedy}, {melodrama}, {operas}, {burlettas}, and {farces}. {The romantic drama}, the kind of drama whose aim is to present a tale or history in scenes, and whose plays (like those of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and others) are stories told in dialogue by actors on the stage. --J. A. Symonds From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: tragicomedy n 1: a dramatic composition involving elements of both tragedy and comedy usually with the tragic predominating 2: a comedy with serious elements or overtones [syn: {seriocomedy}]
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