Melancholy vs Tragic - What's the difference?
melancholy | tragic |
Affected with great sadness or depression.
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 (historical) Black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies.
*, Bk.I, New York 2001, p.148:
Great sadness or depression, especially of a thoughtful or introspective nature.
* 1593 , (William Shakespeare), , V. i. 34:
Causing great sadness or suffering.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
, author=(Jan Sapp)
, title=Race Finished
, volume=100, issue=2, page=164
, magazine=(American Scientist)
Relating to tragedy in a literary work.
(in tabloid newspapers) Involved in a tragedy.
* 2008', ''Search for '''tragic Madeleine McCann over'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph of Australia, 14 February 2008) [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/search-for-maddie-over/story-e6freuy9-1111115550129]
* 2012', Gary Meneely, ''Keano’s tribute to '''tragic James'' (in ''The Irish Sun , 25 June 2012) [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/irishsun/irishsunnews/4392499/Keanos-tribute-to-tragic-James.html]
As adjectives the difference between melancholy and tragic
is that melancholy is affected with great sadness or depression while tragic is causing great sadness or suffering.As nouns the difference between melancholy and tragic
is that melancholy is black bile, formerly thought to be one of the four "cardinal humours" of animal bodies while tragic is a writer of tragedy.melancholy
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes
Synonyms
* (thoughtful sadness) (l) * See alsoNoun
(melancholies)- Melancholy , cold and dry, thick, black, and sour,is a bridle to the other two hot humours, blood and choler, preserving them in the blood, and nourishing the bones.
- My mind was troubled with deep melancholy .
tragic
English
Alternative forms
* tragick (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?}}