tragedy
/ˈtɹæd͡ʒ.ɪ.di/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.14 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A drama or similar work, in which the main character is brought to ruin or otherwise suffers the extreme consequences of some tragic flaw or weakness of character.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "“The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached; but, like many a fond mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas.[…]”"
- "We saw a farmhouse burning down in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. And we rolled right past that tragedy 'till we turned into some road house lights."
- "[…] last month's flooding in the Buffalo Creek Valley […]. The tragedy took more than one hundred lives[…]"
- "After the terrible tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911, which killed 146 New York garment workers, proper fire drilling was considered a necessity."
Etymology
From the Middle English tragedie, from the Old French tragedie, from the Latin tragoedia, from the Ancient Greek τραγῳδία (tragōidía, “epic play, tragedy”), from τράγος (trágos, “male goat”) + ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”), possibly a reference to the goat-satyrs of the theatrical plays of the Dorians, or according to Beekes possibly to a goat given as prize, though the etymology remains uncertain.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɹæd͡ʒ.ɪ.di/
- British English: /ˈtɹæd͡ʒ.ɪ.di/
Usage
Inflected Forms
tragedies (plural)
tragœdy (alternative, obsolete)
tragoedy (alternative, obsolete)
tragœdie (alternative, obsolete)
tragoedie (alternative, obsolete)
tragedie (alternative, obsolete)