Meanings
nountragedy (countable and uncountable, plural tragedies)
plural tragedies · alternative obsolete tragœdy · alternative obsolete tragoedy · alternative obsolete tragœdie · alternative obsolete tragoedie · alternative obsolete tragedie
- countableuncountableA disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury.
[…] last month's flooding in the Buffalo Creek Valley […]. The tragedy took more than one hundred lives[…]
2015 August 25, Julia Keller, Last Ragged Breath: A Novel, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 1533 more examples
“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.[…]”
1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020We 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.
1976, “Coyote”, in Hejira, performed by Joni MitchellAfter the terrible tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911, which killed 146 New York garment workers, proper fire drilling was considered a necessity.
2015, Alison Matthews David, Fashion Victims: The Damages of Dress Past and Present, →ISBN, page 142
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA 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.
Opposite
nounThe genre of such works, and the art of producing them.
Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
nounan event resulting in great loss and misfortune
Broader
noundrama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity
Opposite
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekτραγῳδία“epic play, tragedy”
- Latintragoedia
- Old Frenchtragedie
- Middle Englishtragedie
- Englishtragedy
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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek τραγῳδία
- τραγῳδία (tragōidía)drama or similar work
Arabic مَأْسَاة, تْرَاجِيدْيَا
- مَأْسَاة (maʔsāh)drama or similar work
- تْرَاجِيدْيَا (trājīdyā)drama or similar work
- تْرَاجِيدْيَا (trājīdyā)genre of such works, and the art of producing them
- مَأْسَاة (maʔsāh)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- فَاجِعَة (fājiʕa)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- مُصِيبَة (muṣība)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- آفَة (ʔāfa)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Bulgarian траге́дия, траге́дия
- траге́дия (tragédija)drama or similar work
- траге́дия (tragédija)genre of such works, and the art of producing them
- траге́дия (tragédija)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- бе́дствие (bédstvie)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Catalan tragèdia, tragèdia
- tragèdiadrama or similar work
- tragèdiagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragèdiadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Chinese Mandarin 悲劇 /悲剧, 悲劇 /悲剧
- 悲劇 /悲剧 (bēijù)drama or similar work
- 悲劇 /悲剧 (bēijù)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- 慘事 /惨事 (cǎnshì)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Czech tragédie, tragédie
- tragédiedrama or similar work
- tragédiegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragédiedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Danish tragedie, tragedie
- tragediedrama or similar work
- tragediegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Dutch tragedie, treurspel
- tragediedrama or similar work
- treurspeldrama or similar work
- tragediegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
Esperanto tragedio, tragedio
- tragediodrama or similar work
- tragediogenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediodisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Estonian tragöödia, tragöödia
- tragöödiadrama or similar work
- tragöödiagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragöödiadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Finnish tragedia, murhenäytelmä
- tragediadrama or similar work
- murhenäytelmädrama or similar work
- tragediagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- murhenäytelmädisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- surmadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
French tragédie, tragédie
- tragédiedrama or similar work
- tragédiegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- dramedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
German Tragödie, Tragödie
- Tragödiedrama or similar work
- Tragödiegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- Tragödiedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Greek τραγωδία, τραγωδία
- τραγωδία (tragodía)drama or similar work
- τραγωδία (tragodía)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Hebrew טְרָגֶדְיָה, טְרָגֶדְיָה
- טְרָגֶדְיָה (tragédya)drama or similar work
- טְרָגֶדְיָה (tragédya)genre of such works, and the art of producing them
- טְרָגֶדְיָה (tragédya)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Hindi दुखांत, त्रासदी
- दुखांत (dukhānt)drama or similar work
- त्रासदी (trāsdī)drama or similar work
- त्रासदी (trāsdī)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- दुर्घटना (durghaṭnā)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- हादसा (hādsā)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- आफ़त (āfat)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- मुसीबत (musībat)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Hungarian tragédia, szomorújáték
- tragédiadrama or similar work
- szomorújátékdrama or similar work
- drámadrama or similar work
- tragédiadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Icelandic tragedía, harmleikur
- tragedíadrama or similar work
- harmleikurdrama or similar work
- harmleikurgenre of such works, and the art of producing them
Indonesian tragedi, tragedi
- tragedidrama or similar work
- tragedidisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Irish tragóid, cinniúint
- tragóiddrama or similar work
- cinniúintdisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- tubaistedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Italian tragedia, tragedia
- tragediadrama or similar work
- tragediagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Japanese 悲劇, 悲劇
- 悲劇 (higeki)drama or similar work
- 悲劇 (higeki)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- 惨事 (sanji)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Korean 비극, 비극
- 비극 (bigeuk)drama or similar work
- 비극 (bigeuk)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- 참사 (chamsa)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Latin tragoedia
- tragoediadrama or similar work
Latvian traģēdija, traģēdija
- traģēdijadrama or similar work
- traģēdijagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
Lithuanian tragedija, tragedija
- tragedijadrama or similar work
- tragedijagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
Malay tragedi, tragedi
- tragedidrama or similar work
- tragedidisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- nahasdisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Māori takerehāia
- takerehāiadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Norwegian Bokmål tragedie, tragedie
- tragediedrama or similar work
- tragediegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
Polish tragedia, tragedia
- tragediadrama or similar work
- tragediagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- nieszczęściedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- gorzedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- biedadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Portuguese tragédia, tragédia
- tragédiadrama or similar work
- tragédiagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragédiadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- desastredisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- catástrofedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Romanian tragedie, tragedie
- tragediedrama or similar work
- tragediegenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediedisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Russian траге́дия, траге́дия
- траге́дия (tragédija)drama or similar work
- траге́дия (tragédija)genre of such works, and the art of producing them
- траге́дия (tragédija)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- несча́стье (nesčástʹje)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- го́ре (góre)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- беда́ (bedá)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- бе́дствие (bédstvije)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Slovak tragédia, tragédia
- tragédiadrama or similar work
- tragédiagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragédiadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Spanish tragedia, tragedia
- tragediadrama or similar work
- tragediagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragediadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Swahili mkasa
- mkasadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Swedish tragedi, tragedi
- tragedidrama or similar work
- tragedigenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- tragedidisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Tagalog trahedya, kalunusan
- trahedyadrama or similar work
- kalunusangenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- trahedyagenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- trahedyadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Thai โศกนาฏกรรม
- โศกนาฏกรรม (sòok-gà-nâat-dtà-gam)drama or similar work
Turkish trajedi, trajedi
- trajedidrama or similar work
- trajedigenre of such works, and the art of producing them
- faciadisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- felaketdisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- afetdisastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Ukrainian траге́дія, траге́дія
- траге́дія (trahédija)drama or similar work
- траге́дія (trahédija)genre of such works, and the art of producing them
- траге́дія (trahédija)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- неща́стя (neščástja)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- го́ре (hóre)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- біда́ (bidá)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Urdu اَلَمِیَہ, حادِثَہ
- اَلَمِیَہ (alamiya)genre of such works, and the art of producing them
- حادِثَہ (hādisa)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- سانِحَہ (sāniha)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- آفَت (āfat)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
- مُصِیبَت (musībat)disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury
Vietnamese bi kịch, bi kịch
- bi kịchdrama or similar work
- bi kịchgenre of such works, and the art of producing them
Cite this entry
APA
tragedy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tragedy
MLA
“tragedy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tragedy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tragedy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tragedy.
Source: tragedy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.