comedy of errors

Idioms

A complex or humorous series of events, as in Mary and John went to the Smiths', while the Smiths went to the Parkers', and the Parkers wondered why no one answered the door at John and Mary's—a true comedy of errors. The term borrows the title of Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, about two sets of twin brothers, master and slave, who are separated in infancy, and the mix-ups occurring when they arrive in the same place many years later. [c. 1600]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This comedy of errors doesn’t befall everyone.

From The Wall Street Journal

“The robot would’ve just stayed there forever if I did not cancel,” a former Silver Lake resident said in an interview on Reddit describing how a five-minute delivery turned into a comedy of errors.

From Los Angeles Times

The result was a comedy of errors as Dillais searched for a safe landing spot, the campervan tearing down unfamiliar roads in the dark trying to keep up with him.

From Slate

That trip was essentially a comedy of errors.

From Los Angeles Times

Another cost-cutting move — outsourcing design and manufacturing of Dreamliner components to subcontractors around the world — resulted in a comedy of errors causing so many problems that executives acknowledged it would have been cheaper to keep the work in-house.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023