From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcomiccom‧ic1 /ˈkɒmɪk $ ˈkɑː-/ ●●○ adjective FUNNYamusing you and making you want to laugh OPP tragic a comic novelcomic writer/actress/performer etc (=someone who writes or performs things that make you laugh)comic relief (=a situation in a serious story that makes you relax a little because it is funny) The song provides some comic relief from the intensity of the scene.► see thesaurus at funny
Examples from the Corpus
comic• No comic actress working today is funnier or more versatile.• She is one of the most gifted comic actresses on television.• A big woman, Wilkens uses her bulk to exquisite comic advantage.• Many medieval manuscripts have decorated borders filled with comic animals and birds and people.• Tyrone Guthrie was a great one for comic business, and it was amazing to see how Michael picked it all up.• He went to Eastbourne secondary school before carving out a comic career in London.• Thomas Pynchon has also shown a consistent fondness for slapstick effects in his novels, drawn partly from comic cinema.• The comic euro is low because it can not, and will not be taken seriously by the world nations.• I mean, he was a comic genius, yet he still wanted to be something he wasn't.• Streep provided one of the best comic performances of her career.• In Shakespeare's Henry 1V, the character of Falstaff provides us with a little comic relief.• Then Gertie got up on the stage and delighted us all by singing a comic song.• Like all comic writers, Shaw was fascinated by the gap between appearance and reality.comic relief• He was, and he remained for the time being, a figure of comic relief.• Interspersed between tragic stories are a few songs supplying pointed but comic relief.• Telephoning Jonathan to break off the engagement had almost been a high point of comic relief.• What I did was to provide him with some comic relief.• I raised £7.41 for comic relief by eating jelly with chopsticks.• For comic relief, obviously; but we also suspect a topical reference worth considering as evidence in the dating game.• She was able to take centre stage, providing comic relief while Zephyr shared intimate moments with her special friends.comiccomic2 ●○○ noun [countable] 1 TCN (also comic book) a magazine for children that tells a story using comic strips2 BOAPJOKEsomeone whose job is to tell jokes and make people laugh SYN comedian a stand-up comicExamples from the Corpus
comic• A comic gives children the opportunity to retreat into their own world; it is a very private thing.• Gazzer could see Tony going into the lighted ticket-booth to read his comic.• It would be rather more welcome if comics could still be comics.• The language, not just the art work of comics changed then too.• So we set some of our comics the toughest challenge of all make us laugh about Maastricht.• There is no text that can be read, such as there is even in a children's comic.• a stand-up comic• Stand-up comics, actors and writers do not retire, Mr. Howerd pointed out.stand-up comic• Gerald Ford, as a speaker, was the exact opposite of a stand-up comic.• His role has been rather like that of a stand-up comic warming up the audience for the main event.• In person, the Esquire columnist and author of four books is hyperactive, edgy and funnier than any stand-up comic.• Exposure on his show is sought by politicians as well as screen celebrities, authors as well as stand-up comics, athletes and rappers.• There were more than fourteen acts, from stand-up comics to bawdy singalongs.• Whitehead appears as a smarmy stand-up comic without the charisma or patter to carry off his narrative duties.Origin comic1 (1500-1600) Latin comicus, from Greek, from komos; → COMEDY 