comedy

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com·e·dy

(kŏm′ĭ-dē)

n. pl. com·e·dies

a. A dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.

b. The genre made up of such works.

2. A literary or cinematic work of a comic nature or that uses the themes or methods of comedy.

3. Popular entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance.

4. The art of composing or performing comedy.

5. A humorous element of life or literature: the human comedy of political campaigns.

6. A humorous occurrence.

Idiom:

comedy of errors

A ludicrous event or sequence of events: The candidate's campaign turned out to be a political comedy of errors.

[Middle English comedie, from Medieval Latin cōmēdia, from Latin cōmoedia, from Greek kōmōidia, from kōmōidos, comic actor : kōmos, revel + aoidos, singer (from aeidein, to sing; see wed- in Indo-European roots).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

comedy

(ˈkɒmɪdɪ)

n, pl -dies

1. (Theatre) a dramatic or other work of light and amusing character

2. (Theatre) the genre of drama represented by works of this type

3. (Theatre) (in classical literature) a play in which the main characters and motive triumph over adversity

4. the humorous aspect of life or of events

5. an amusing event or sequence of events

6. humour or comic style: the comedy of Chaplin.

[C14: from Old French comédie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Greek kōmōidia, from kōmos village festival + aeidein to sing]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

com•e•dy

(ˈkɒm ɪ di)

n., pl. -dies.

1. a play, movie, etc., of light and humorous character with a cheerful ending.

2. the branch of drama concerned with this form of composition.

3. the comic element of drama, of literature generally, or of life.

4. any comic or humorous incident or series of incidents.

[1350–1400; Middle English comedye < Medieval Latin cōmēdia, Latin cōmoedia < Greek kōmōidía <kōmōid(ós) comedian (kômo(s) merrymaking + aoidós singer)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	comedy - light and humorous drama with a happy ending drama - the literary genre of works intended for the theater black comedy - comedy that uses black humor commedia dell'arte - Italian comedy of the 16th to 18th centuries improvised from standardized situations and stock characters dark comedy - a comedy characterized by grim or satiric humor; a comedy having gloomy or disturbing elements farce, farce comedy, travesty - a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations high comedy - a sophisticated comedy; often satirizing genteel society low comedy - a comedy characterized by slapstick and burlesque melodrama - an extravagant comedy in which action is more salient than characterization seriocomedy, tragicomedy - a comedy with serious elements or overtones sitcom, situation comedy - a humorous drama based on situations that might arise in day-to-day life slapstick - a boisterous comedy with chases and collisions and practical jokes tragedy - drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity
	2.	comedy - a comic incident or series of incidents drollery, funniness, clowning fun, sport, play - verbal wit or mockery (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously); "he became a figure of fun"; "he said it in sport"

comedy

noun

1. light entertainment, sitcom (informal) Channel Four's comedy, 'Father Ted'
light entertainment opera, tragedy, soap opera, melodrama, high drama, serious play

2. humour, fun, joking, farce, jesting, slapstick, wisecracking, hilarity, witticisms, facetiousness, chaffing He and I provided the comedy with songs and monologues.
humour sadness, seriousness, melancholy, solemnity

Quotations
"Comedy is an imitation of the common errors of our life" [Sir Philip Sidney The Defence of Poetry]
"The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel" [Horace Walpole Letters]
"All tragedies are finish'd by a death,"
"All comedies are ended by a marriage" [Lord Byron Don Juan]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

comedy

noun

The quality of being laughable or comical:

comicality, comicalness, drollery, drollness, farcicality, funniness, humor, humorousness, jocoseness, jocosity, jocularity, ludicrousness, ridiculousness, wit, wittiness, zaniness.

Translations

كوميدياكوميديا، مَلْهاهمَرَح، فُكاهَه

komediekomičnost

komediekomik

Komödie Boulevardstück Komik

κωμωδία

comedia humorismo

komedia

comédie comique

komedija

vígjáték

gamanleikurgamansemi, skoplegt atvik

commedia commèdia comico

コメディー

코미디

komedijakomikaskomiškumas

komēdijakomisms

komedie

komedie komikk lystspill humor

komedia

comédia

комедия комедийный

komédia

komedija

komedi

ละครตลก

komedikomiklik

hài kịch

喜剧幽默

comedy

[ˈkɒmɪdɪ]

A. N (gen) → comedia f; (= humour of situation) → comicidad f
comedy of manners → comedia f de costumbres

B. CPD comedy show N (TV) → programa m de humor

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

comedy

[ˈkɒmədi]

(= type of entertainment) → comédie f

(= play, film) → comédie f

modif [drama, series, romance, western] → comiquecomedy club n club où des comiques se produisentcomedy show n → comédie f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

comedy

(Theat) → Komödie f, → Lustspiel nt; comedy programme → Unterhaltungsprogramm nt; comedy writer → Lustspielautor(in) m(f) → or (classical) → -dichter(in) m(f); “Comedy of Errors” → „Komödie der Irrungen“; the entire deal was just a comedy of errors (fig) → bei dem Geschäft ging aber auch alles daneben; low comedy → Klamauk m; high comedy → echte or gekonnte Komödie; to act in comedy → Komödiendarsteller(in) m(f) → sein

(fig) → Komödie f, → Theater nt (inf)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

comedy

[ˈkɒmɪdɪ] n (gen) → commedia brillante; (humour) → lato comico

comedy

(ˈkomədi) – plural ˈcomedies – noun

1. a play of a pleasant or amusing kind. We went to see a comedy last night.

2. humour. They all saw the comedy of the situation.

comedian (kəˈmiːdiən) – feminine comedienne (kəmiːdiˈen, (American) kəˈmi:diən) – noun

a performer who tells jokes or acts in comedies.

comedy

→ كوميديا komedie komedie Komödie κωμωδία comedia, humorismo komedia comédie komedija commedia コメディー 코미디 komedie komedie komedia comédia комедия komedi ละครตลก komedi hài kịch 喜剧

References in classic literature ?

A comedy is a play which shows the merry side of life and has a happy ending.

A play named Ralph Roister Doister is generally looked upon as the first real English comedy. It was written by Nicholas Udall, headmaster first of Eton and then of Westminster, for the boys of one or other school.

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Epic poetry and Tragedy, Comedy also and Dithyrambic: poetry, and the music of the flute and of the lyre in most of their forms, are all in their general conception modes of imitation.

Such are Dithyrambic and Nomic poetry, and also Tragedy and Comedy; but between them the difference is, that in the first two cases these means are all employed in combination, in the latter, now one means is employed, now another.

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"The first is that in a friendly way, and of course under the inviolable law of secrecy, you explain to me for what part Lucille is cast in this little comedy; the next that I be allowed to see her at reasonable intervals, and finally that she is known by her rightful name as Duchesse de Souspennier."

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The following personage appears in other stories of the Human Comedy. Murat, Joachim, Prince The Vendetta The Gondreville Mystery Colonel Chabert Domestic Peace

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During my first year in Venice I met an ingenious priest, who had been a tutor in a patrician family, and who was willing to lead my faltering steps through the "Inferno." This part of the "Divine Comedy" I read with a beginner's carefulness, and with a rapture in its beauties, which I will whisper the reader do not appear in every line.

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To Homer were popularly ascribed certain burlesque poems in which Aristotle ("Poetics" iv) saw the germ of comedy. Most interesting of these, were it extant, would be the "Margites".

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I have a blue-eyed daughter who is my Beauty daughter, I have a Sentiment daughter, and I have a Comedy daughter.

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Monseigneur had been out at a little supper last night, where the Comedy and the Grand Opera were charmingly represented.

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I feel as if I could be anything or everything; as if I could rant and storm, or sigh or cut capers, in any tragedy or comedy in the English language.

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For side-splitting comedy we would refer our readers to the correspondence between the Board of Control and the Cretan premier during the "war." However, all's well that ends well.