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Definition of comic adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

comic

adjective
 
/ˈkɒmɪk/
 
/ˈkɑːmɪk/
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  1. humorous and making you laugh
    • a comic monologue/story
    • The play is both comic and tragic.
    • She can always be relied on to provide comic relief (= something to make you laugh) at a boring party.
    • He wore a red nose and novelty glasses for comic effect.
    • a blackly comic futuristic fantasy
    Synonyms funnyfunnyamusing entertaining witty humorous comic hilariousThese words all describe somebody/​something that makes you laugh or smile.funny that makes you laugh:
    • a funny story
    • He was a very funny guy.
    amusing funny and giving pleasure:
    • It’s a very amusing game to play.
    entertaining that you enjoy watching, listening to, doing or experiencing:
    • It was a very entertaining evening.
    witty clever and amusing; able to say or write clever and amusing things:
    • a witty remark
    • a witty public speaker
    humorous funny and entertaining; showing a sense of humour:
    • a humorous look at the world of fashion
    comic that makes you laugh:
    • Many of the scenes in the book are richly comic.
    hilarious extremely funny
    funny, amusing, humorous or comic?Amusing is the most general of these words because it includes the idea of being fun as well as making people laugh and can be used to describe events, activities and occasions: an amusing party/​game/​eveninga funny/​humorous/​comic party/​game/​evening. Humorous is more about showing that you see the humour in a situation, than actually making people laugh out loud. Comic is used especially to talk about writing and drama or things that are funny in a deliberate and theatrical way. It is not used to describe people (except for comic writers/​actors). Funny can describe people, jokes and stories, things that happen, or anything that makes people laugh.Patterns
    • a(n) funny/​amusing/​entertaining/​witty/​humorous/​comic story
    • a(n) funny/​amusing/​entertaining/​witty/​humorous speech
    • a(n) funny/​entertaining/​witty/​humorous/​comic writer
    • a(n) funny/​amusing/​hilarious joke
    • to find something funny/​amusing/​entertaining/​witty/​humorous/​hilarious
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    adverb
    • richly
    • truly
    • wonderfully
    See full entry
  2. [only before noun] connected with comedy (= entertainment that is funny and that makes people laugh)
    • a comic opera
    • a very fine comic actor
    • Charlie Chaplin was a comic genius.
    Topics Literature and writingb2
  3. Word Originlate 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek kōmikos, from kōmos ‘revel’.
See comic in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee comic in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
generic
adjective
 
 
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