different between tragedy vs peripeteia

English

Alternative forms

• tragœdy, tragoedy, tragœdie, tragoedie, tragedie (archaic)

Etymology

From the Middle English tragedie, from the Old French tragedie, from the Latin tragoedia, from the Ancient Greek ???????? (trag?idía, “epic play, tragedy”), from ?????? (trágos, “male goat”) + ??? (?id?, “song”), a reference to the goat-satyrs of the theatrical plays of the Dorians.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?æd???di/, /?t?æd???di/
• Hyphenation: trag?e?dy

Noun

tragedy (countable and uncountable, plural tragedies)

1. A drama or similar work, in which the main character is brought to ruin or otherwise suffers the extreme consequences of some tragic flaw or weakness of character.

   Antonym: comedy

2. The genre of such works, and the art of producing them.

   Antonym: comedy

3. A disastrous event, especially one involving great loss of life or injury.

Derived terms

• tragedy of the commons

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• gyrated

English

Alternative forms

• peripetia, peripety

Etymology

From Late Latin peripetia, and its source Ancient Greek ?????????? (peripéteia), ultimately from ???? (perí, “round, around, about”) + the stem of ????? (pípt?, “to fall”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p???p??t??/, /p???p??ta??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p???p??ti?/, /p???p??ta??/

Noun

peripeteia (countable and uncountable, plural peripeteias)

1. (drama) A sudden reversal of fortune as a plot point in Classical tragedy.
2. (by extension) Any sudden change in circumstances; a crisis. [from 16th c.]
   • 1965, John Fowles, The Magus:

     Once more I was a man in a myth, incapable of understanding it, but somehow aware that understanding it meant it must continue, however sinister its peripeteia.

   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review books 2006, p. 167:

     They were to bestride the Algerian scene like demigods until the tragic peripeteia of 1961 […]

3. (psychoanalysis) A turning point in psychosocial development. [from 1960s]

Translations

Further reading

• peripeteia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia