Tragedy

Defining if something is tragic, or "a tragic end" is often a hard thing to do. Tragedy in the truest and oldest sense of the word, is a form of ancient Greek theatre which is meant to invoke a sad emotion, such as pity or sadness. In this way, it is meant to be a catharsis for the audience. It can often be a parallel to real life. Tragedy is often a story about a noble hero/heroine, and because of fate, or the god's will, or their own fault, they come to an awful end while striving for a goal. Often there is tragic love, or love lost involved. Sometimes in the end, the hero doesn't die. But if they don't, then their fortune changes for the worst. In other words, the hero's fate takes an irreversible change in a bad direction, and they end up in a less comfortable, or less alive state then when they set out.

So if that is how you define tragedy, then I would say that a tragic end is defined by things ending up worse than where they started, often much worse.