TRAGEDY

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 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)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An event resulting in great loss and misfortune

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

calamity; cataclysm; catastrophe; disaster; tragedy

Context example:

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"):

act of God; force majeure; inevitable accident; unavoidable casualty; vis major (a natural and unavoidable catastrophe that interrupts the expected course of events)

apocalypse (a cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil)

famine (a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death)

kiss of death (something that is ruinous)

meltdown (a disaster comparable to a nuclear meltdown)

plague (any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God))

visitation (any disaster or catastrophe)

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)

tsunami (a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave caused by an earthquake or volcanic eruption)

Derivation:

tragic; tragical (very sad; especially involving grief or death or destruction)

Sense 2

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)

Derivation:

tragic (of or relating to or characteristic of tragedy)

 Context examples 

He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The approach to the spot at which the tragedy occurred is down a narrow, winding, country lane.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was none, however, which appealed to me like this tragedy of Ronald Adair.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was made glad in vague ways by the battle, for this was the love-making of the Wild, the sex-tragedy of the natural world that was tragedy only to those that died.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The Colonel’s body was then placed upon the sofa, and a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was on the third day after our forming our camp near the Indian caves that the tragedy occurred.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Though Julia fancies she prefers tragedy, I would not trust her in it.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Martin recollected his blank-verse tragedy, and sent it instead.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

On the evening after the tragedy I fled to London, and arranged that my wife should have a fitting allowance on condition that she did not interfere with the child.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In spite of the tragedy, some people just feel happy to be alive.

(Coping with Disasters, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)