strange, weird, bizarre; distorted, deformed; ugly
odd or ugly person or thing; work of art in the grotesque style; ridiculously incongruous
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Grotesque Definition from Language, Idioms & Slang Dictionaries & Glossaries
(n.)
Artificial grotto-work.
Artificial grotto-work.
(n.)
A whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old crypts and grottoes.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), edited by Noah Porter. AboutA whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old crypts and grottoes.
grotesque
\gro*tesque\, n.
1. a whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old crypts and grottoes.
2. artificial grotto-work.
grotesque
adj
1. distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous; "tales of grotesque serpents eight fathoms long that churned the seas"; "twisted into monstrous shapes" [syn: monstrous, unnatural]
2. ludicrously odd; "hamlet's assumed antic disposition"; "fantastic halloween costumes"; "a grotesque reflection in the mirror" [syn: antic, fantastic, fantastical]
n : art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants
Incongruously composed or ill-proportioned.
Noun
1. art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants
(hypernym) art, fine art
Adjective
1. distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous; "tales of grotesque serpents eight fathoms long that churned the seas"; "twisted into monstrous shapes"
(synonym) monstrous, unnatural
(similar) ugly
2. ludicrously odd; "Hamlet's assumed antic disposition"; "fantastic Halloween costumes"; "a grotesque reflection in the mirror"
(synonym) antic, fantastic, fantastical
(similar) strange, unusual
Grotesque Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries
The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century. The "caves" were in fact rooms and corridors of the Domus Aurea, the unfinished palace complex started by Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, which had become overgrown and buried, until they were broken into again, mostly from above. Spreading from Italian to the other European languages, the term was long used largely interchangeably with arabesque and moresque for types of decorative patterns using curving foliage elements.
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