See also: Comedian and comedían

English edit

Etymology edit

comedy +‎ -ian. From Middle French comédien, from comédie (comedy).

Pronunciation edit

  • (US) IPA(key): /kəˈmiːdi.ən/
  • (file)

Noun edit

 
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comedian (plural comedians) (feminine: comedienne)

  1. An entertainer who performs in a humorous manner, especially by telling jokes.
    Synonym: comic
  2. (by extension) Any person who is humorous or amusing, either characteristically or on a particular occasion.
    Synonyms: card, cutup, gagster, joker, wag, wit
  3. (dated) A person who performs in theatrical plays.
    Synonyms: actor, player, thespian
    Coordinate term: tragedian
    • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
      [] the quick comedians
      Extemporally will stage us, and present
      Our Alexandrian revels;
    • 1714, Susanna Centlivre, The Wonder, London: E. Curll and A. Bettesworth, Preface,[1]
      I Don’t pretend to write a Preface, either to point out the Beauties, or to excuse the Errors, a judicious Reader may possibly discover in the following Scenes, but to give those excellent Comedians their Due, to whom, in some Measure the best Dramatick Writers are oblig’d.
    • 1755, George Colman, The Connaisseur[2], volume 1, London: R. Baldwin, page 1:
      When a Comedian, celebrated for his excellence in the part of Shylock, first undertook that character, he made daily visits to the center of business, the ’Change, and the adjacent Coffee-houses; that by a frequent intercourse and conversation with “the unforeskinn’d race,” he might habituate himself to their air and deportment.
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 51, in Vanity Fair [], London: Bradbury and Evans [], published 1848, →OCLC:
      Becky, the nightingale, took the flowers which he threw to her and pressed them to her heart with the air of a consummate comedian.
  4. (obsolete) A writer of comedies.
    Coordinate term: tragedian

Synonyms edit

Hypernyms edit

  • (male comedian): comedian (male and female)

Hyponyms edit

  • (comedian, male and female): comedian (male), comedienne (female)

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

  • German: Comedian

Translations edit

Anagrams edit

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French comédien. By surface analysis, comedie +‎ -an.

Noun edit

comedian m (plural comedieni)

  1. comedian

Declension edit