gro·tesque

[groh-tesk]
adjective
1.
odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre.
2.
fantastic in the shaping and combination of forms, as in decorative work combining incongruous human and animal figures with scrolls, foliage, etc.
noun
3.
any grotesque object, design, person, or thing.

Origin:
1555–65; < French < Italian grottesco (as noun, grottesca grotesque decoration such as was apparently found in excavated dwellings), derivative of grotta. See grotto, -esque

gro·tesque·ly, adverb
gro·tesque·ness, noun
un·gro·tesque, adjective


1. distorted, deformed, weird, antic, wild. See fantastic.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To grotesque
00:10
Grotesque is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Collins
World English Dictionary
grotesque (ɡrəʊˈtɛsk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
1.  strangely or fantastically distorted; bizarre: a grotesque reflection in the mirror
2.  of or characteristic of the grotesque in art
3.  absurdly incongruous; in a ludicrous context: a grotesque turn of phrase
 
n
4.  a 16th-century decorative style in which parts of human, animal, and plant forms are distorted and mixed
5.  a decorative device, as in painting or sculpture, in this style
6.  printing the family of 19th-century sans serif display types
7.  any grotesque person or thing
 
[C16: from French, from Old Italian (pittura) grottesca cave painting, from grottesco of a cave, from grotta cave; see grotto]
 
gro'tesquely
 
adv
 
gro'tesqueness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

grotesque
1561, originally a noun, from M.Fr. crotesque, from It. grottesco, lit. "of a cave," from grotta (see grotto). Used first of paintings found on the walls of basements of Roman ruins (It. pittura grottesca). Originally "fanciful, fantastic," sense became pejorative after mid-18c.
Grotty, slang shortening, had a brief vogue 1964 as part of Liverpool argot popularized by The Beatles in "A Hard Day's Night."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
So then you put forward the ugly as a type for imitation, you make the
  grotesque an element of art.
Not in him but off from him things are grotesque or eccentric or fail of their
  sanity.
We grow up-if we're lucky-in security and wonder, and afterward are delivered
  to the grotesque fact of our end.
She looked like some kind of grotesque praying mantis.
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