comedy

• comedie (archaic, often affected as such for humorous effect)
• comœdie (obsolete)
• comœdy (archaic)

From Middle English comedie, from Middle French comedie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía), from κῶμος (kômos, “revel, carousing”) + either ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer, bard”), both from ἀείδω (aeídō, “I sing”). Doublet of commedia.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmədi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmədi/

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• Hyphenation: com‧e‧dy

comedy (countable and uncountable, plural comedies)

1. (countable, historical) A choric song of celebration or revel, especially in Ancient Greece.
2. (countable) A light, amusing play with a happy ending.

   A Midsummer Night's Dream is among Shakespeare's most famous comedies.

3. (countable, Medieval Europe) A narrative poem with an agreeable ending (e.g., The Divine Comedy).
4. (countable, drama) A dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical in tone.
5. (drama) The genre of such works.
6. (uncountable) Entertainment composed of jokes, satire, or humorous performance.

   Why would you be watching comedy when there are kids starving right now?

7. The art of composing comedy.
8. (countable) A humorous event.

• (antonym(s) of “light, humorous, or satirical work”): drama (in its narrower sense)
• (antonym(s) of “light, humorous, or satirical work”): tragedy

• (light, humorous, or satirical work): drama (in its broader sense)

• (light, humorous, or satirical work): farce

• comic

• → Japanese: コメディ (komedi)
• → Korean: 코미디 (komidi)

• ode

• “comedy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “comedy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.