Meanings
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1
noun
an actor who specializes in tragic roles
The celebrated tragedian made the doomed king both proud and vulnerable.
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2
noun
a playwright or other writer of tragedies
Sophocles remains one of the most influential tragedians of ancient Greece.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Middle English tragedyen and Old French tragediane, ultimately built on Latin tragoedia and Greek tragodia ('tragedy') with the person-forming suffix -ian. It has long denoted both a performer in tragic drama and an author of tragedies.