comedy of errors

English

WOTD – 18 November 2025

Etymology

From comedy +‎ of +‎ errors, probably coined by the English playwright William Shakespeare (c. 1564 – 1616) as the title of the play The Comedy of Errors (written c. 1594; published 1623),[1] about two sets of identical twins separated at birth who are involved in a series of mistaken identities.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌkɒmɪdi əv ˈɛɹəz/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌkɑmədi əv ˈɛɹəɹz/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛɹə(ɹ)z
  • Hyphenation: com‧e‧dy of err‧ors

Noun

comedy of errors (plural comedies of errors)

  1. (originally theater, now also film, television) A comedy in which the humour is due to misinterpretations, mistaken identity, etc.
    Coordinate term: comedy of manners
  2. (by extension, idiomatic) A series of amusing or farcical events involving awkward missteps or other mistakes.
    • 1601 (first performance), Thomas Dekker, “Ad Lectorem”, in Satiro-mastix. Or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Edward White, […], published 1602, →OCLC, signatures [A3], verso – K4, recto:
      It ſhall not be amiſſe (for him that vvill read) firſt to beholde this ſhort Comedy of Errors, and vvhere the greateſt enter, to giue them inſtead of a hiſſe, a gentle correction.
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Sentimental and Otherwise”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 108:
      I think I have seen such comedies of errors going on in the world.
    • 1884, Cecil Power [pseudonym; Grant Allen], “Land at Last: But What Land”, in Philistia […], volume III, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 277:
      [I]t's the poor Le Bretons who have brought us two thus together. And yet, they were both once our dearest rivals. You were in love with Edie Le Breton: I was half in love with Ernest Le Breton: and now—why, now, Arthur, I do believe we're both utterly in love with one another. What a curious little comedy of errors!
    • 1914, Ralph Henry Barbour, “Sawyer Vows Revenge”, in Left End Edwards, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 158:
      By that time those who had remained so long began to view the game as what it really was, a comedy of errors, and got lots of fun out of it.
    • 1951 March, M. D. Greville, “The Nomenclature of Railway Stations”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 192:
      Reference to Flamborough brings to mind an amusing comedy of errors, which although not strictly a matter of station-naming, at least concerns station names. The actual name was Marton for Flamborough, and, by some error, it appeared in Bradshaw, at the end of 1858, as Marton from Flamborough. After two or three months, this was evidently noticed, and instructions given to correct it, but unfortunately the correction appeared as Marton or Flamborough, which remained undetected for several months more.
    • 1965 June 3, Eliot Fremont-Smith, “Books: A way back to life [review of August Is a Wicked Month (1965) by Edna O’Brien]”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 May 2017:
      What follows is a painful comedy of errors. Almost from her arrival she is pursued by a bellhop who interprets her every rebuff as a coy invitation.
    • 2005 February 11, “Bride and Prejudice [film review]”, in Box Office Prophets‎[2], archived from the original on 26 December 2024:
      Though Lalita and Darcy's budding romance nearly falls prey to assumptions, back-biting gossip, and various coincidences and comedies of errors, pride and prejudice are both overcome so that love may conquer all in the end.
    • 2018 September 26, Drachinifel [pseudonym], “The Battle of Lissa – Special” (6:12 from the start), in YouTube‎[3], archived from the original on 9 August 2023:
      Initially, despite this comedy of errors by the Italian command structure, the battle seemed to be going badly for the Austrians.
    • 2021 May 28, Sam Jones, Uki Goñi, “Bard timing: Argentinian TV reports death of Shakespeare after Covid jab”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[4], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 September 2025:
      In what can only be described as a comedy of errors, an Argentinian TV news channel delivered a stunning, if slightly flawed, scoop on Thursday night when it reported that William Shakespeare, "one of the most important writers in the English language" had died five months after receiving the Covid vaccine.

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “comedy of errors, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “comedy of errors, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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