Gothic definition | Dictionary.com

goth⋅ic

[goth-ik]

–adjective

(usually initial capital letter

) noting or pertaining to a style of architecture, originating in France in the middle of the 12th century and existing in the western half of Europe through the middle of the 16th century, characterized by the use of the pointed arch and the ribbed vault, by the use of fine woodwork and stonework, by a progressive lightening of structure, and by the use of such features as flying buttresses, ornamental gables, crockets, and foils.

2.	(usually initial capital letter) pertaining to or designating the style of painting, sculpture, etc., produced between the 13th and 15th centuries, esp. in northern Europe, characterized by a tendency toward realism and interest in detail.

3.	(initial capital letter) of or pertaining to Goths or their language.

4.	(usually initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the music, esp. of northern Europe, of the period roughly from 1200 to 1450, including that of the Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova, and the Burgundian school.

5.	(usually initial capital letter) pertaining to the Middle Ages; medieval.

6.	(sometimes initial capital letter) barbarous or crude.

7.	(often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a style of literature characterized by a gloomy setting, grotesque, mysterious, or violent events, and an atmosphere of degeneration and decay: 19th-century gothic novels.

8.	(initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to the alphabetical script introduced for the writing of Gothic by Ulfilas and derived by him from Greek uncials with the addition of some Latin and some invented letters.

9.	(often initial capital letter) being of a genre of contemporary fiction typically relating the experiences of an often ingenuous heroine imperiled, as at an old mansion, where she typically becomes involved with a stern or mysterious but attractive man.

–noun

10.	(usually initial capital letter) the arts and crafts of the Gothic period.

11.	(initial capital letter) the extinct Germanic language of the Goths, preserved esp. in the 4th-century translation by Ulfilas of the Bible. Abbreviation: Goth, Goth., goth.

12.	(often initial capital letter) a story, play, film, or other work in the gothic style.

13.	(usually initial capital letter) British. black letter.

14.	(often initial capital letter) a square-cut printing type without serifs or hairlines.

Origin:
1605–15; < LL Gothicus of, pertaining to the Goths. See Goth, -ic

Related forms:

goth⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb

goth⋅ic⋅ness, goth⋅ic⋅i⋅ty [go-this-i-tee]

, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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black letter

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n. A heavy typeface with very broad counters and thick ornamental serifs. Also called gothic, Old English.

Goth·ic (gŏth'ĭk)

adj.

1. Of or relating to the Goths or their language.
2. Germanic; Teutonic.
3. Of or relating to an architectural style prevalent in western Europe from the 12th through the 15th century and characterized by pointed arches, rib vaulting, and a developing emphasis on verticality and the impression of height.
4. Of or relating to an architectural style derived from medieval Gothic.
Of or relating to the Middle Ages; medieval.
1. Of or relating to an architectural style prevalent in western Europe from the 12th through the 15th century and characterized by pointed arches, rib vaulting, and a developing emphasis on verticality and the impression of height.
2. Of or relating to an architectural style derived from medieval Gothic.
Of or relating to painting, sculpture, or other art forms prevalent in northern Europe from the 12th through the 15th century.
often gothic Of or relating to a style of fiction that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.
gothic Barbarous; crude.

The extinct East Germanic language of the Goths.
Gothic art or architecture.
often gothic Printing
1. See black letter.
2. See sans serif.
A novel in a style emphasizing the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.

Goth'i·cal·ly adv.

Word History: The combination Gothic romance represents a union of two of the major influences in the development of European culture, the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes that invaded it. The Roman origins of romance must be sought in the etymology of that word, but we can see clearly that Gothic is related to the name Goth used for one of those invading Germanic tribes. The word Gothic, first recorded in 1611 in a reference to the language of the Goths, was extended in sense in several ways, meaning "Germanic," "medieval, not classical," "barbarous," and also an architectural style that was not Greek or Roman. Horace Walpole applied the word Gothic to his novel The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story (1765) in the sense "medieval, not classical." From this novel filled with scenes of terror and gloom in a medieval setting descended a literary genre still popular today; from its subtitle descended the name for it.

sans ser·if (sān sěr'ĭf)

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n. A typeface without serifs. Also called gothic.
sans-ser'if adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Gothic

Goth"ic\, a. [L. Gothicus: cf. F. gothique.]

1. Pertaining to the Goths; as, Gothic customs; also, rude; barbarous.

2. (Arch.) Of or pertaining to a style of architecture with pointed arches, steep roofs, windows large in proportion to the wall spaces, and, generally, great height in proportion to the other dimensions -- prevalent in Western Europe from about 1200 to 1475 a. d. See Illust. of Abacus, and Capital.

Gothic

Goth"ic\, n. 1. The language of the Goths; especially, the language of that part of the Visigoths who settled in Moesia in the 4th century. See Goth.

Note: Bishop Ulfilas or Walfila translated most of the Bible into Gothic about the Middle of the 4th century. The portion of this translaton which is preserved is the oldest known literary document in any Teutonic language.

2. A kind of square-cut type, with no hair lines.

Note: This is Nonpareil GOTHIC.

3. (Arch.) The style described in Gothic, a., 2.

Gothic

In European architecture, the dominant style during the late Middle Ages, characterized by slender towers, pointed arches, soaring ceilings, and flying buttresses. Many great cathedrals, including Chartres and Notre Dame de Paris, were built in this style.

gothic

"of the Goths," Gmc. people who lived in Eastern Europe c. 100 A.D. (O.E. Gota, L.L. Goth, Gk. Gothoi), from Goth. gutþiuda "Gothic people," the first element cognate with O.N. gotar "men." "The sense 'men' is usually taken to be the secondary one, but as the etymology of the word is unknown, this is uncertain" [Gordon]. The unhistorical -th- in Eng. is from L.L. Used in sense of "savage despoiler" (1663) in reference to their sack of Roman cities, 5c. (see vandal). Gothic was used by scholars to mean "Germanic, Teutonic" (1647), hence its evolution as a term for the art style that emerged in northern Europe in the Middle Ages, and the early 19c. literary style that used medieval settings to suggest horror and mystery. The word was revived 1983 as the name for a style of music and the associated youth culture; abbreviated form goth is attested from 1986. Gothic revival in reference to architecture and decorating first recorded 1869 in writing of C.L. Eastlake.

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