Definition: “Cosmic irony occurs when a higher power (e.g., God, fate, the Universe) intervenes to create an ironic situation. Otherwise known as “irony of fate,” this idea of “interference” can either be actual or inferred.”
Dunman, Brent. "What Is Cosmic Irony? Definition and Examples for Screenwriters." studiobinder.com, 24 Oct. 2019, www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-cosmic-irony-definition-and-examples/#:~:text=Cosmic%20irony%20occurs%20when%20a,either%20be%20actual%20or%20inferred. Accessed 7 Sept. 2022.
Informal Definition: Cosmic irony is when a divine power creates an ironic situation. This can be seen as lazy by using an unnamed all
powerful force to create a scenario, however, this tool can also be used to enforce the presence or power of an authoritative force.
“A poor woman wishes to her fairy godmother to attain great wealth. She is granted her wish, but with her added wealth, she finds that her friends become distant and people forge shallow relationships with her, only interested in her money. She concludes that her newfound wealth has made her much more unhappy than she was previously.”
[The woman ends up less happy after the fairy godmother grants her wealth.]
Kinney, Charles, Jr. "What is Cosmic Irony? - Definition & Examples." study.co, study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-cosmic-irony-definition- examples.html. Accessed 7 Sept. 2022.
Etymology: Cosmic - “1640s, "pertaining to beauty, improving beauty," from French cosmétique (16c.), from Latinized form of Greek kosmetikos "skilled in adornment or arrangement," from kosmein "to arrange, adorn," from kosmos "order; ornament" (see cosmos). Related: Cosmetical (1550s). Of surgery, from 1926. Figurative sense of "superficial, affecting the appearance only" is from 1955.”
Irony - "figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning" (usually covert sarcasm under a serious or friendly pretense), c. 1500, from Latin ironia, from Greek eironeia "dissimulation, assumed ignorance," from eiron "dissembler," perhaps related to eirein "to speak," from PIE *wer-yo-, suffixed form of root *were- (3) "to speak" (see verb). Used in Greek of affected ignorance, especially that of Socrates, as a method of exposing an antagonist's ignorance by pretending to modestly seek information or instruction from him. Thus sometimes in English in the sense "simulated ignorance.”
Harper, Douglas. "Cosmos." www.etymonline.com, 3 Nov. 2018, www.etymonline.com/word/cosmos. Accessed 7 Sept. 2022.
Harper, Douglas. "Irony." etymonline.com, www.etymonline.com/search?q=irony. Accessed 7 Sept. 2022.