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; < F < It grottesco (as n., grottesca grotesque decoration such as was appar. found in excavated dwellings), deriv. of grotta.See grotto, -esque
Related forms:
gro⋅tesque⋅ly, adverb
gro⋅tesque⋅ness, noun
Synonyms: 1.distorted, deformed, weird, antic, wild. See fantastic.
Characterized by ludicrous or incongruous distortion, as of appearance or manner.
Outlandish or bizarre, as in character or appearance. See Synonyms at fantastic.
Of, relating to, or being the grotesque style in art or a work executed in this style.
n.
One that is grotesque.
A style of painting, sculpture, and ornamentation in which natural forms and monstrous figures are intertwined in bizarre or fanciful combinations.
A work of art executed in this style.
[From French, a fanciful style of decorative art, from Italian grottesca, from feminine of grottesco, of a grotto, from grotta, grotto; see grotto.] gro·tesque'ly adv., gro·tesque'ness n.
[groh-tesk] 
