[a. It. comedietta ‘a pretty short comedy’ (Florio), dim. of comedia.] A species of drama of a slighter character than comedy; a short or slight comedy.
1836. Gentl. Mag., April, 423/1. [At Covent Garden] Marie, a Tale of the Pont Neuf (a ‘comedietta,’ vide bills) … was brought to light.
1865. Reader, 8 April, 408. A comedietta is a newly-coined term for a new species of drama. A name was required for that dwarf species of comedy that is not so broad as farce, nor so light as vaudeville, nor so tragic as mellodrame…. It ought, being a species, to be complete in itself, and not merely two or three scenes belonging to a larger comedy.
1886. Manch. Exam., 6 Jan., 3/1. An unpublished comedietta ‘First come, first served.’
