grotesque

[ groh-tesk ]
See synonyms for: grotesquegrotesquesgrotesquelygrotesqueness on Thesaurus.com

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
  1. any grotesque object, design, person, or thing.

Origin of grotesque

1
First recorded in 1555–65; from French, from Italian grottesca (from pittura grottesca, opera grottesca “grotesque painting, decoration” such as was apparently found in excavated buildings), the feminine of grottesco “grotesque, uncouth,” derivative of grotta “cave.” See grotto, -esque

synonym study For grotesque

1. See bizarre.

Other words for grotesque

Other words from grotesque

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use grotesque in a sentence

  • Julia Tymoshenko languishes in a prison hospital, her privacy grotesquely invaded (almost every move she makes is videotaped).

  • Anselme, thus enjoined, lent an unwonted alacrity to his movements, waddling grotesquely like a hastening waterfowl.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
  • A horse or a tree or a clump of brush loomed up grotesquely in the vaporous blur.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
  • The third was a mournful-eyed Schree, clad in an ornamented smock-like garment, from which his thin limbs thrust grotesquely.

    Valley of the Croen | Lee Tarbell
  • He rose, shaking himself together, and his glance fell on the three suspended socks bulging grotesquely.

    The Woman Gives | Owen Johnson
  • Nowhere perhaps has the great water erosion of bygone aeons wrought more grotesquely and fantastically than in the Moqui basin.

    Overland | John William De Forest

British Dictionary definitions for grotesque

grotesque

/ (ɡrəʊˈtɛsk) /


adjective
  1. strangely or fantastically distorted; bizarre: a grotesque reflection in the mirror

  2. of or characteristic of the grotesque in art

  1. absurdly incongruous; in a ludicrous context: a grotesque turn of phrase

noun
  1. a 16th-century decorative style in which parts of human, animal, and plant forms are distorted and mixed

  2. a decorative device, as in painting or sculpture, in this style

  1. printing the family of 19th-century sans serif display types

  2. any grotesque person or thing

Origin of grotesque

1
C16: from French, from Old Italian (pittura) grottesca cave painting, from grottesco of a cave, from grotta cave; see grotto

Derived forms of grotesque

  • grotesquely, adverb
  • grotesqueness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012