Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Comical |
ComicalAdjective1. Arousing or provoking laughter; "an amusing film with a steady stream of pranks and pratfalls"; "an amusing fellow"; "a comic hat"; "a comical look of surprise"; "funny stories that made everybody laugh"; "a very funny writer"; "it would have been laughable if it hadn't hurt so much"; "a mirthful experience"; "risible courtroom antics". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "comical" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1601. (references) |
Synonyms: ComicalSynonyms: amusing (adj), comic (adj), funny (adj), laughable (adj), mirthful (adj), risible (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Ridiculousness | Adjective: ridiculous, ludicrous; comical; droll, funny, laughable, pour rire, grotesque, farcical, odd; whimsical, whimsical as a dancing bear; fanciful, fantastic, queer, rum, quizzical, quaint, bizarre; screaming; eccentric; (unconformable); strange, outlandish, out of the way, baroque, weird; awkward; (ugly). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Comical |
| English words defined with "comical": amusing ♦ comic, Comicality, comically ♦ droll ♦ funny ♦ laughable ♦ mirthful ♦ Punch and Judy ♦ risible ♦ Serio-comical. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "comical": ARCH DUKE ♦ Egotist. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A guy standing on a station platform in the rain, with a comical look on his face, because his insides have been kicked out. (Casablanca; writing credit: Murray Burnett; Joan Alison) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Comical scene showing maid sitting on man's lap kissing him as his wife watches. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Chas. H. Yale and Sidney R. Ellis' The evil eye, or The further funny freaks of Nid and the continued comical contortions of Nod. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Goofy; guffaw; daffy; dippy; fool; foolish; idiotic; inane; irrational; nonsensical; jokey; joshing; kooky; laughable; loony; ludicrous; nutty; senseless; silly; stupid; tomfool; wacky;; absurd; batty; boffo; comic; comical; facetious; farcical; foolheade. | | Amusing; arbitrary; capricious; chancy; chimerical; comical; curious; dicey; droll; eccentric; erratic; fanciful; fantastic; flaky; freakish; funny; quaint; unertain; wagish; playful; animated; blithe; bouncy; cheerful; cheery; effervescent; elastic; fanc. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | EGOTIST, n. A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me. Megaceph, chosen to serve the State In the halls of legislative debate, One day with all his credentials came To the capitol's door and announced his name. The doorkeeper looked, with a comical twist Of the face, at the eminent egotist, And said: "Go away, for we settle here All manner of questions, knotty and queer, And we cannot have, when the speaker demands To be told how every member stands, A man who to all things under the sky Assents by eternally voting 'I'." |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Comical" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.29% of the time. "Comical" is used about 141 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.29% | 140 | 26,789 |
| Noun (common) | 0.71% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 141 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "comical": comic comical funny laughable risible. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "comical": semi-comical, Serio-comical, Tragi-comical. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "comical"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | qesharak (absurd, buffo, comic, derisive, farcical, foolish, funny, laughable, ludicrous, preposterous, ridiculous, risible), për të qeshur (comic, hilarious, humorous, laughable), komik (comic, droll, funny). (various references) | |
Arabic | فكاهي (comic, funny, humorous, wit), مضحك (buffoon, burlesque, clown, comedian, comic, comics, droll, farcical, foolish, funny, harlequin, humorous, jester, laughable, laughing, ludicrous, merry andrew, ridiculous, risible, silly, wag), هزلي (burlesque, comic, doggie, farcical, funny, humorous, joker, prankish, priceless, quizzical, waggish). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | странен (bizarre, comic, fantastic, fantastical, freakish, funny, grotesque, novel, odd, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, remarkable, rum, rummy, screwy, singular, strange, uncanny, unco, unheard of, weird, whimsical), смешен (amusing, comic, derisive, derisory, farcical, foolish, funny, laughable, laughing, ludicrous, quizzical, ridiculous, risible, screwy), хумористичен (comic, humorous), чудат (comic, crackpot, eccentric, extravagant, faddish, faddy, odd, peculiar, pixilated, quaint, queer, quizzical, rum, rummy, screwy, singular, vagrant, viewy), комичен (buffo, comic, humorous, ragtime), забавен (amusing, comic, delayed, diverting, entertaining, funny, interesting, laughable, merry, recreational, recreative, sportful). (various references) | |
Chinese | 滑稽 , 滑 (cunning, slippery, smooth), 可笑 (Comic, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous). (various references) | |
Czech | legraèní (amusing, chaffy, comic, facetious, funny, good, humorous, piffling), komický (amusing, comic, droll, funny, grotesque, humorous, quaint), šprýmovný (facetious, jocular, joking, prank, prankish). (various references) | |
Danish | sjov (comic, funny). (various references) | |
Dutch | moppig (comic, funny), komisch (comic, funny), koddig (comic, funny), grappig (comic, funny, jocularly). (various references) | |
Esperanto | komika (comic, funny). (various references) | |
Faeroese | margháttligur (comic, funny), løgin (comic, curious, funny, interesting, odd, peculiar, quaint, strange), láturligur (comic, funny). (various references) | |
Finnish | hullunkurinen (absurd, bizarre, droll, extremely funny, ludicrous), hassunkurinen (droll, funny, ludicrous). (various references) | |
French | comique (comedian, comic), drôle (comic). (various references) | |
Frisian | komysk (comic, funny). (various references) | |
German | komisch (comic, comically, droll, freaky, funny, humorous, odd, oddball, queer, queerly, quizzical, rum, screwy, strange, unlikely), drollig (comic, cunning, droll, funny, jocose, odd, quaint, quizzical, strange). (various references) | |
Greek | κωμικόσ (comedian, comic, comocally, facetious, farcical, funny, humorous, ragtime), αστείοσ (droll, funny, humorous, jesting, jocose, jocular, ludicrous, quizzical, tickler). (various references) | |
Hebrew | משעשע (amusing, comic, entertaining, funny), מב"ח (amusing, comic, humorous, jocose, jocular, playful), מצחיק (amusing, comic, droll, funny, humorous, laughable, ludicrous, ridiculous), קומי (comic), "תולי (comic, facetious, frivolous, humorous, mocking). (various references) | |
Hungarian | komikus (comedian, comic, funny, funny man, laughable, ludicrous, stooge). (various references) | |
Italian | comico (comedian, comic, freaky, funniness, funny, laughable, ludicrous). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 茶番的 (farcical), お笑い (comic), 滑稽 (funny, humorous, joking, laughable, ridiculous), 御笑い (comic), コマ割り (comic book, comic books, comic market, comic opera, comics, commission, commissioner, commit, commuter, commuter marriage, commuter service, convention where amateur manga artists sell their work, panel layout). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おわらい (comic), "っけい (funny, humorous, joking, laughable, National day, ridiculous, severe punishment), コミカル , ちゃば"てき (farcical). (various references) | |
Korean | 익살맞은 (ludicrous). (various references) | |
Papiamen | kómiko (comic, funny). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | omicalcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | cômico (bouffe, buffo, comedian, comic, funny, laughable, waggish), ridículo (apish, awful, comic, derisive, derisory, extravagant, farcical, foolish, irony, laughable, ludicrous, preposterous, quizzical, ragtime, ridicule, ridiculous, risible, satire), engraçado (amusing, comic, droll, funny, jocose, lively, screaming, screamy, witty), burlesco (burlesque, comic, doggerel, facetious, farcical, laughable, ludicrous, mock, quizzical, ridiculous, simulated), bufo (buffoon, clown, comedian, comic, funny, owl). (various references) | |
Romanian | comic (clownish, comic, comically, droll, funny, humorous, jocular, ludicrous, ludicrously, screaming). (various references) | |
Russian | смешной (amusing, comic, farcical, funny, humorous, jokey, laughable, laughing, ludicrous, merry, risible), комичный (comic, waggish). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zabavan (amusing, diverting, droll, entertaining, recreative, sportful, sportive), smešan (amusing, droll, funny, hilarious, laughable, ludicrous, rich, ridicule, ridiculous), luckast (anserine, crack-brained, dotty, light-headed, silly). (various references) | |
Spanish | cómico (amusing, comedian, comic, entertaining, funny, humorous, laughable, player, zany). (various references) | |
Swedish | komisk (comic, droll, funny, ridiculous, too much, zany). (various references) | |
Turkish | tuhaf (antic, bizarre, cranky, curious, droll, erratic, flaky, funnily, funny, funny peculiar, laughable, odd, offbeat, peculiar, peregrine, queer, quizzical, rum, rummy, screwball, screwy, singular, splay, strange, twee, unaccustomed, uncouth, unusual, weird, whimsical), komik (amusing, burlesque, comedian, comic, droll, farcical, funny, funnyman, gilbertian, humorous, jesting, jocose, laugh, laughable, laughing, ludicrous, quizzical, rich, ridiculous, risible, rum, rummy), garip (awkward, bizarre, codger, cranky, crotchety, curious, droll, eccentric, exotic, fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fantastical, far out, freak, freakish, funny, funny peculiar, grotesque, kinky, odd, out of the way, outlandish, poor, queer, quizzical, rum, rummy, screwball, screwy, strange, weirdo, whimsical), acayip (antic, bizarre, bughouse, comically, crotchety, curious, droll, exotic, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, flaky, freak, freakish, grotesque, incongruous, kinky, kooky, novel, odd, out of the way, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, quizzical, rum, rummy, screwball, singular, some, splendiferous, strange, uncanny, unco, unusual, weird). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | смішний (amusing, boffo, capricious, comic, droll, funny, laughable, ludicrous, risible, zany), потішний. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | tức cười; vui nhộn kỳ cục, lố bịch (absurd, grotesque, ludicrous, preposterous, priceless, ridiculous), khôi h i (buffi, buffo, burlesque, droll, humorous, jocose, priceless, ragtime), h i hước (burlesque, comic). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| French | 1500-Modern | drole. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "comical": comicalities, comicality, comically. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "comical": heroicomical, tragicomical. (additional references) | |
Words containing "comical": seriocomically. (additional references) | |
| |
"Comical" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Camicia, cenical, comial, comice, Comici, comico, Comidas, Cominco, Comissao, concal, concial, conciel, conciola, congical, conican, conicas, Conival, Conoca, cormacan, cosmica, cosmical, Cowichan, cronical, nomical. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "comical" (pronounced kÄ"mikul) |
| 6 | -Ä" m i k u l | astronomical, economical, uneconomical. |
| 5 | -m i k u l | electrochemical, inimical, petrochemical. |
| 4 | -i k u l | acoustical, alphabetical, analytical, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, astrological, astronautical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, bicycle, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, categorical, cervical, chronological, classical, conical, critical, cubicle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, dermatological, diabolical, dialectical, ecclesiastical, ecological, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encyclical, epidemiological, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, evangelical, fanatical, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geopolitical, graphical, gynecological, helical, heretical, historical, hypercritical, hypocritical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, spherical, statistical, stereotypical, strategical, surgical, symmetrical, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, testicle, theatrical, theological, ironical, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, mathematical, mechanical, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, methodological, metrical, morphological, musical, mystical, mythological, neoclassical, neurological, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, ontological, optical, ornithological, paradoxical, pathological, pedagogical, periodical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, physical, physiological, popsicle, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, puritanical, rabbinical, radiological, rhetorical, sabbatical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, sociological, theoretical, topical, toxicological, tricycle, tropical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncritical, unethical, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, whimsical, zoological. |
| 3 | -k u l | aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, anarchical, anatomical, ankle, anthropological, article, barnacle, biblical, bifocal, biochemical, brickle, buckle, cackle, chemical, Chronicle, chuckle, circle, clavicle, clerical, clinical, commonsensical, coracle, cortical, crackle, cuticle, cycle, debacle, diacritical, domical, ducal, encircle, epochal, equivocal, etymological, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, geophysical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, granduncle, hackle, heckle, heterocercal, hierarchical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypothetical, impractical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, sprinkle, stickle, suckle, tabernacle, tackle, tentacle, jackal, knuckle, local, maniacal, matriarchal, medical, meikle, meteorological, methodical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, motorcycle, muckle, mythical, nautical, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, numerical, obstacle, Oracle, oratorical, particle, patriarchal, photochemical, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, practical, pumpernickel, quizzical, radical, ramshackle, rankle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, ruckle, runkle, satirical, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, tickle, tinkle, trickle, twinkle, typical, uncle, unequivocal, unicycle, unshackle, vocal, Winkle, wrinkle. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-i-l-m-o" | |
-1 letter: calico. | |
-2 letters: acmic, claim, colic, comal, comic, malic. | |
-3 letters: calm, calo, ciao, clam, coal, coca, coil, cola, coma, laic, lima, limo, loam, loca, loci, mail, mica, milo, moil, mola. | |
-4 letters: ail, aim, ami, cam, col, lac, lam, mac, mil, moa, moc, mol, oca, oil. | |
-5 letters: ai, al, am, la, li, lo, ma, mi, mo, om. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-i-l-m-o" | |
+1 letter: cacomixl, cosmical. | |
+2 letters: cacomixls, comically. | |
+3 letters: accomplice, accomplish, cacomistle, comicality, commercial, compliance, compliancy, complicacy, complicate, cosmically, councilman, cycloramic, economical, iconoclasm, malolactic, microscale. | |
+4 letters: acclamation, acclimation, accomplices, acromegalic, biochemical, bioclimatic, cacomistles, camouflagic, chameleonic, circumpolar, comedically, commercials, compactible, compliances, complicated, complicates, coxcombical, cyclothymia, cytomegalic, cytoplasmic, ectoplasmic, geochemical, iconoclasms, macrocyclic, macronuclei, melancholic, micrococcal, microscales, monarchical, mycological, nonchemical, oecumenical, saltimbocca. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
