grotesque

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
Browning had little comic power, little real humour; in him the grotesque is an imperfect form of the comic.

View all »
Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Characterized by ludicrous or incongruous distortion, as of appearance or manner.
  2. adjective Outlandish or bizarre, as in character or appearance. See Synonyms at fantastic.
  3. adjective Of, relating to, or being the grotesque style in art or a work executed in this style.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • His attention was never distracted by the sketches which he drew without ceasing, during the course of the debates--grotesque and humorous figures, much in demand by every one present as mementos of the Conference Next on the right sat David Lloyd George, with thick gray hair and snapping Celtic eyes. —  Woodrow Wilson and the World War A Chronicle of Our Own Times.
  • To me, these lines on the purple lily are not only ugly and grotesque--in that kind of ugliness which "was to Browning not in the least a necessary evil, but a quite unnecessary luxury, to be enjoyed for its own sake"--but are monstrously (more than any other instance I can recall) unsuited to the mind from which they are supposed to come New-blown and ruddy as St. Agnes' nipple Plump as the flesh-bunch on some Turk-bird's poll One such example is enough. —  Browning's Heroines
  • The features are strongly pronounced, and at times verge upon the grotesque--we mean it in no offensive spirit. —  Mexico Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development
  • He loved the fantastic, the bizarre, the grotesque--for the latter quality he endured the literary work of Berlioz, hating all the while his music. —  Old Fogy His Musical Opinions and Grotesques
  • Suddenly she felt her train to be [v]grotesque, as a thing following her in a nightmare A moment later she caught her partner making a [v]burlesque face of suffering over her shoulder, and, turning her head quickly, saw for whose benefit he had constructed it. —  The Literary World Seventh Reader
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 288 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

fantastic ·  absurd ·  bizarre ·  horrible ·  monstrous ·  quaint ·  tragic ·  queer ·  amuse
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From French, a fanciful style of decorative art, from Italian grottesca, from feminine of grottesco, of a grotto, from grotta, grotto; see grotto.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = D. G. Danish Swedish grotesk, from French grotesque, from Italian grottesco = Spanish Portuguese grutesco, odd, antic, ludicrous, in reference to the style of paintings called grotesques (French grotesques, from Italian grottesca, “antick or landskip worke of painters” (Florio), found in ancient crypts and grottos), from Italian grotta, a grotto: see grotto, grot, and -esque.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/grəˈtɛsk/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

fester · bigwig · shake-out · panties · long-established

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket