n. (pl. -ies) 1 a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. 2 a sad event; a calamity (the team's defeat is a tragedy). 3 a a play in verse or prose dealing with tragic events and with an unhappy ending, esp. concerning the downfall of the protagonist. b tragic plays as a genre (cf. COMEDY).
[ ME f. OF tragedie f. L tragoedia f. Gk tragoidia app. goat-song f. tragos goat + oide song ]