comedy of errors

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comedy of errors (plural comedies of errors)

1. (idiomatic) A set of amusing or farcical events involving a series of awkward missteps or other mistakes.
   • 1884, Grant Allen, chapter 37, in Philistia:

     "[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, chapter 13, in Left End Edwards:

     [T]hose 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.

   • 1965 June 3, Eliot Fremont-Smith, "A Way Back to Life" (book review of August is a Wicked Month by Edna O'Brien), New York Times (retrieved 28 July 2013):

     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 Feb. 11, "Bride and Prejudice" (film review), boxofficeprophets.com (retrieved 28 July 2013):

     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.

• comedy of errors at OneLook Dictionary Search