1 Regarding something very sad, often involving death and suffering: Her friends were deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic news of Mary's death.
2. Belonging or relating to literature about death or suffering: In the drama, Romeo was the tragic hero who, along with Juliet, died in a tragic way.
3. Extremely mournful, melancholy, or pathetic: The circumstances surrounding Jill's separation and divorce from her husband were tragic, but she had a lot of friends who helped her through the distressing times.
4. Dreadful, calamitous, disastrous, or fatal: The tragic mistake that Jack made was driving too fast and causing a terrible accident.
5. Pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of tragedy: Wars always have a tragic significance of lives being lost and affects the whole word in many different ways.

The use of contradictory expressions in a drama; originally, in Greek "tragedies": Tragic irony is present in some plays making it possible for an audience to be aware that a character's words or actions will bring about a fatal result, while the character is someone who apparently doesn't know that it is going to happen.