Main Entry: iro·ny
Pronunciation: 'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler
Date: 1502
1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony
So, none of those seem to be what I had understood most of my life as irony as being a sort of dark coincidence. For example, I finally have the time to attend a night a friend has been running for a while just to find out that it has been cancelled as of the very night I can first attend. I would have called that ironic until a few moments ago, am I wrong? If so, what would that be called then?
This, by the way, is the "irony" that I have been so fond of. Dark coincidences amuse me to no end.
