seriocomic

adjective

se·rio·com·ic ˌsir-ē-ō-ˈkä-mik

: having a mixture of the serious and the comic

a seriocomic novel

seriocomically

ˌsir-ē-ō-ˈkä-mi-k(ə-)lē

adverb

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Seriocomic may have a modern ring to it, but our earliest evidence of the word in print is from 1783. Another "comic" word-heroicomic, meaning "comic by being ludicrously noble, bold, or elevated"-is slightly older; evidence of it dates to 1756. Both words are about a century younger than our third "comic" word, "tragicomic" ("manifesting both tragic and comic aspects"), which print evidence dates to 1683. (Evidence of the variant "tragicomical," however, dates all the way back to 1567.)

Examples of seriocomic in a Sentence

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Transferring the seriocomic but socially conscious tone and hometown pride of the film into a half-hour format, the series finds a new alchemy of its own thanks to Diggs’ and Casal’s atypical-in-Hollywood choice to shift away from their own characters. —Jen Yamato, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2021 This new seriocomic series created by Lee Sung Jin (whose writing credits include Dave and Tuca & Bertie) traces what happens when a near-miss in a parking lot escalates into road rage that in turn escalates into an ongoing feud. —Keith Phipps, Rolling Stone, 4 Apr. 2023