tragic mistake
7
4.1
- noun
- His decision to invest all his savings in a failing business was a tragic mistake.
Examples
-
Can't you see the tragic mistake you almost made?
-
Trusted Health Resources made a tragic mistake.
Academic text (2000) -
You are making a tragic mistake here.
-
So she made one tragic mistake.
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Excuse me, Doctor, but that would be a tragic mistake.
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This is a tragic mistake.
-
That was a tragic mistake.
Fiction book (2002) -
This is a tragic mistake, and unless these governments change course quickly, it may soon be too late.
Academic text (2001) -
Well, I hope we all learn from those tragic mistakes and can start with a clean slate.
Blog text (8) -
It was a tragic mistake, but that's in the past now.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A sudden event that causes great damage, loss, or failure
174
7.0
A sudden terrible event that causes great damage and suffering
78
6.2
A complete embarrassing failure that happens suddenly and causes big problems
77
8.5
A sudden complete failure that causes public embarrassment or big loss
18
4.9
A cause of someone's failure or ruin
7
9.9
A serious or embarrassing mistake that causes problems
5
7.7
A serious, embarrassing mistake often caused by confusion or poor planning
1
5.6
A big mistake that causes serious problems
1
9.9
A very serious mistake that causes big problems, often because someone was careless
A very large mistake that causes big problems
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'tragic' (causing great sadness or disaster) + 'mistake' (an error), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a very serious, consequential error. This phrase is not idiomatic and parallels similar constructions in many languages, making it predictable rather than opaque.
Etymology
Tragic mistake paints a clear image: tragic means very sad or terrible and mistake means a wrong action, so together they show a small wrong choice that causes a big, harmful result. So, tragic mistake means a 'very serious error' that leads to great harm.