comedy
n. C / Un. a type of movie, play, or book that is funny and makes you laugh. It usually has a happy ending.
n. a professional entertainment consisting of jokes and satirical sketches, intended to make an audience laugh. In a literary context, it refers to a genre with a light tone and a resolution that is typically positive for the protagonist.
We watched a great comedy last night and laughed for hours.
The local theater group is performing a classic comedy this weekend to raise money for charity.
While the play begins with a series of misunderstandings that threaten the social order, it ultimately adheres to the conventions of comedy by resolving every conflict through a series of marriages.
From Middle English comedie, from Middle French comedie, from Latin cōmoedia, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδία (kōmōidía), from κῶμος (kômos, “revel, carousing”) + either ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”) or ἀοιδός (aoidós, “singer, bard”), both from ἀείδω (aeídō, “to sing”). Doublet of commedia.
Uncountable when referring to the genre or abstract quality of being funny; countable when referring to a specific film, play, or performance.