TRAGEDIES Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

tragedies

noun

plural of tragedy

as in disasters

a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction the earthquake and the ensuing damage was the worst tragedy to ever befall the city

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as in misfortunes

bad luck or an example of this it's the tragedy of many great artists not to be recognized for their genius until after they're dead

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of tragedies Prime Minister Mark Carney called the blaze one of the worst peacetime tragedies to strike Canada's armed forces on home soil, according to Reuters. — Stephen Sorace , Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2026 What happened to Gates is one of several tragedies involving postal workers in extreme Texas heat in recent years. — Ginger Allen, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 There’s a slickness to the carnage that rubs uncomfortably against the film’s humanist ethos, rendering artificial (for all Shen Teng’s trembling and mouth-contorting labors) the horrific tragedies that befall its characters. — Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026 At the concert, Mastodon also appeared as a band pushing past the tragedies, and was re-energized and refocused with a new lineup. — Steve Appleford, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2026 At the time, a bill to ban carriages was before the City Council, but these tragedies bolstered its political momentum. — Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026 Throughout medical history, controlling chirality has meant the difference between therapeutic breakthroughs and medical tragedies. — Mallory Green, The Conversation, 8 Oct. 2026 His story does not add up; there is even more weirdness among extended family, and the tragedies pile up. — Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026 Deadly boating tragedies are common in the central African country, where late-night travel and overcrowded vessels are often blamed. — ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tragedies

Noun

Its chief instructor, Wang Kuanghan, has said plans are underway to open five more centers in China within three years, expanding the simulations to other disasters, including fires and earthquakes.

— Lauryn Higgins, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
The administration initially talked about abolishing the agency, arguing that states and communities could deal with disasters on their own.

— Dana R. Fisher, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of disasters

Noun

Poliński said Zosia would likely have been blamed for misfortunes such as disease and famine that often plagued the region in the 17th century, which people sometimes attributed to supernatural activity by the dead.

— Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
But the fire this time was started by a son, which led to raging misfortunes that consumed his three brothers one by one, leaving only ashen memories for his surviving sister and aged parents to sift through.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of misfortunes

Noun

The protagonist becomes a wise-guy version of Benjamin’s Angel of History, watching calamities accumulate before his eyes.

— Alex Ross, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge.

— Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of calamities

Noun

There’s a lot of apocalypses happening now in this world, major ones.

— Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026
And a lot of the pseudepigrapha, like the fake gospels and fake apocalypses, fill in gaps in the record that can serve latter-day, post-biblical purposes.

— JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025

Definition of apocalypses

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tragediennes

tragedies

tragedy

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“Tragedies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tragedies. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of tragedies

noun

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