Definitions

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

  • adjective Characterized by ludicrous, repulsive, or incongruous distortion, as of appearance or manner. synonym: ugly.
  • adjective Outlandish or bizarre, as in character or appearance. synonym: fantastic.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or being the grotesque style in art or a work executed in this style.
  • noun One that is grotesque.
  • noun A style of painting, sculpture, and ornamentation in which natural forms and monstrous figures are intertwined in bizarre or fanciful combinations.
  • noun A work of art executed in this style.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Consisting of or resembling artificial grotto-work.
  • Hence Of the fantastic character of such grotto-work and of its decoration; wildly formed; of irregular forms and proportions; ludicrous; antic (which see), as the arabesques of the Renaissance, in which figures human to the waist terminate in scrolls, leafage, and the like, and are associated with animal forms and impossible flowers; hence, in general, whimsical, extravagant, or odd; absurdly bold: often, or more commonly, used in a sense of condemnation or depreciation.
  • Synonyms Fantastic, etc. (see fanciful); whimsical, wild, strange.
  • noun That which is grotesque, as an uncouth or ill-proportioned figure, rude and savage scenery, an inartistic, clownish, or absurd fancy, a clumsy satire, or the like.
  • noun Specifically In art, a capricious figure, work, or ornament; especially, a variety of arabesque which as a whole has no type in nature, being a combination of the parts of animals and plants, and of other incongruous elements.
  • noun In printing, any uncouth form of type; specifically, in Great Britain, the black square-cut display-type called gothic in the United States.

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

  • noun A whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old crypts and grottoes.
  • noun Artificial grotto-work.
  • adjective Like the figures found in ancient grottoes; grottolike.
  • adjective Wildly or strangely formed; whimsical; extravagant; of irregular forms and proportions; fantastic; ludicrous; antic.

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

  • adjective distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous
  • adjective disgusting or otherwise viscerally reviling.
  • adjective typography sans serif.
  • noun A style of ornamentation characterized by fanciful combinations of intertwined forms.
  • noun Anything grotesque.
  • noun typography A sans serif typeface.

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

  • adjective ludicrously odd
  • adjective distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous
  • noun art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle French grotesque (French: grotesque), from Italian grottesco ("of a cave"), from grotta. Compare English grotto.

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Examples

  • In one marvellous passage he defines the word "grotesque" from the word grotto, a small cave and goes on to sing the praises of the "modern master printers who think like the scribes of our old Icelandic languages" and decorate their texts with impossible creatures –"a centaur here, an old woman with birds' feet there, a three-headed dog".

    From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón - review 2011

  • The Landless People's Movement (LPM) lamented on Thursday what it described as a grotesque distortion of its programmes by the media, and denied it had any violent or lawless intentions.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2004

  • The Middle Ages, more than any other period, are rich in instances of that intimate blending of the comic and the horrible which we call the grotesque; the witches 'Sabbath, the hoofed and horned devil, the hideous figures of Dante's hell; the

    A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century 1886

  • US hardens line on Syria's Assad THE US says it has no interest in seeing Syria's President Bashar al-Assad survive simply to preserve regional "stability", hardening its line on what it termed a "grotesque" crackdown on dissent.

    NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

  • Times Picayune had an editorial earlier this week describing what they called a grotesque and nauseating pattern of police cover-ups.

    Democracy Now! Democracy Now! 2010

  • Times Picayune had an editorial earlier this week describing what they called a grotesque and nauseating pattern of police cover-ups.

    Democracy Now! Democracy Now! 2010

  • Women's Bodies, shows what she calls grotesque, vulgar and humiliating creatures, with inflated silicone bodies, oozing out of plunging necklines, tottering on stiletto heels.

    NPR Topics: News 2009

  • Soon Brundle becomes more fly and less man and it all ends in grotesque tears.

    Archive 2008-09-01 2008

  • Soon Brundle becomes more fly and less man and it all ends in grotesque tears.

    Be afraid. Be very afraid. 2008

  • This is a deranged concept leading an innocent man to do horrific tasks in grotesque detail, and it puts it all in first person.

    EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Some skinny on the actual play of Manhunt 2 2007

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