tragically

«tragically» in Mova's school dictionary: in a very sad way, usually because someone died or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adverb (tragically)

meaning for a pupil

1) Tragically means in a very sad way, usually because someone died or something terrible happened. tree →

2) It can also introduce a sad fact: «Tragically, nobody survived.» tree →

3) (informal, joking) People sometimes use it to make a small disappointment sound huge: «Tragically, the shop had run out of chocolate.» tree →

sense in the lessons

Used in history lessons, news and stories to mark a terrible event and a serious, sad tone. At the start of a sentence it warns the reader that bad news is coming. In jokes it shows exaggeration. Phrases: «tragically died», «tragically short life», «tragically, …».

examples

• The young explorer tragically died on the way home. tree →
• Tragically, the ship hit an iceberg and sank. tree →
• The famous singer's life was tragically short. tree →
• Many people were tragically hurt in the earthquake. tree →
• Tragically, the fire spread before help arrived. tree →
• Tragically, my sandwich fell face down in the mud. (joking) tree →
• Romeo and Juliet's story ends tragically. tree →

note

Formed from «tragic» + «-ally»; spell it with «-ally», not «-ly» («tragicly» is wrong). The noun is «tragedy». Used for real deaths and disasters it is serious, so do not use it jokingly about real sad events.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «tragically» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.