Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the Goths or their language.
  • adjective Germanic; Teutonic.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Middle Ages; medieval.
  • adjective 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.
  • adjective Of or relating to an architectural style derived from medieval Gothic.
  • adjective Of or relating to painting, sculpture, or other art forms prevalent in northern Europe from the 12th through the 15th century.
  • adjective Of or relating to a style of fiction that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.
  • adjective Barbarous; crude.
  • noun The extinct East Germanic language of the Goths.
  • noun Gothic art or architecture.
  • noun A novel in a style emphasizing the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the Goths: as, Gothic customs; Gothic barbarity.
  • Hence Rude; barbarous.
  • An epithet commonly applied to the European art of the middle ages, and more particularly to the various Pointed types of architecture generally prevalent from the middle of the twelfth century to the revival of study of classical models in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
  • In liturgies, an epithet sometimes applied to the Mozarabic liturgy, or to the Gallican family of liturgies, in accordance with an incorrect theory that they were first introduced into Gaul and Spain by the Visigoths, or from the fact that they were in use in Gallican and Spanish churches at the time of Gothic domination.
  • noun The language of the Goths.
  • noun In bibliography, an early form of black-faced and pointed letters, as shown in printed books and manuscripts.
  • noun [lowercase] The American name for a style of square-cut printing-type without serifs or hair-lines, after the style of old Roman mural letters.
  • noun The so-called Gothic style of architecture. See I., 3.
  • Belonging to or characteristic of ‘Goths’ or ‘barbarians’ in matters of literature or art.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The language of the Goths; especially, the language of that part of the Visigoths who settled in Moesia in the 4th century. See goth.
  • noun A kind of square-cut type, with no hair lines.
  • noun (Arch.) The style described in Gothic, a., 2.
  • adjective Pertaining to the Goths; ; also, rude; barbarous.
  • adjective (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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun an extinct Germanic language, once spoken by the Goths
  • adjective of or relating to the Goths.
  • adjective barbarous, rude, unpolished, belonging to the "Dark Ages", medieval as opposed to classical.
  • adjective of or relating to the architectural style favored in western Europe in the 12th to 16th centuries.
  • adjective of or relating to the style of fictional writing associated with the Gothic revival, emphasizing violent or macabre events in a mysterious, desolate setting.
  • adjective typography in England, of the name of type formerly used to print German, also known as black letter.
  • adjective typography in the USA, of a sans serif typeface using straight, even-width lines, also called grotesque
  • adjective of or relating to the goth subculture or lifestyle.
  • noun A novel written in the Gothic style.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque
  • adjective characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German
  • adjective of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths
  • noun extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas
  • adjective of or relating to the Goths
  • adjective as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened
  • noun a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries
  • noun a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Goth +‎ -ic, English from the 17th century, ad Latin gothicus.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Gothic.

Examples

  • I heard the term Gothic Wonderland when I was a student there.

    Back to ugly again ... Lisa B. 2006

  • Felibien, the French author of the _Lives of Architects_, divides Gothic architecture into two distinct kinds -- the _massive_ and the _light_; and as the latter superseded the former, the term Gothic, which had been originally applied to both kinds, seems to have been restricted improperly to the latter only.

    Notes and Queries, Number 09, December 29, 1849 Various

  • The term Gothic was applied contemptuously to this architectural style by writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who regarded everything non-classical as barbarous.

    Early European History Hutton Webster

  • The term Gothic used in its customary sense is quite incorrect, but is hallowed by tradition.

    I. The Great Hall. Book I 1917

  • Such a style is Gothic architecture, and it is to this style, regarded in its most inclusive aspect, that the term Gothic is applied by general consent, and in this sense the word is used here.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

  • The term Gothic was first used during the later Renaissance, and as a term of contempt.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI 1840-1916 1913

  • Christopher Wren, and others, who lent their aid in depreciating the old mediæval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with every thing that was barbarous and rude, it may be sufficient to refer to the celebrated Treatise of Sir Henry Wotton, entitled _The Elements of

    Notes and Queries, Number 09, December 29, 1849 Various

  • Horace Walpole was as enthusiastic as either of them; good eighteenth century prelates like Hurd and Percy, found in what they called the Gothic an inexhaustible source of delight.

    English Literature: Modern Home University Library of Modern Knowledge G. H. Mair 1906

  • I know nothing which more shows the essential and inherent perfection of simplicity of thought, above that which I call the Gothic manner in writing, than this, that the first pleases all kinds of palates, and the latter only such as have formed to themselves a wrong artificial taste upon little fanciful authors and writers of epigram.

    Essays and Tales Joseph Addison 1695

  • He cast himself as an urban philosopher whose overarching theory, which he called Gothic Futurism, posited that graffiti writers were trying to liberate the mystical power of letters from the strictures of modern alphabetical standardization and had inherited this mission from medieval monks.

    NYT > Home Page 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.