grotesque
odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre.
fantastic in the shaping and combination of forms, as in decorative work combining incongruous human and animal figures with scrolls, foliage, etc.
any grotesque object, design, person, or thing.
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Origin of grotesque
1synonym study For grotesque
Other words for grotesque
Other words from grotesque
- gro·tesque·ly, adverb
- gro·tesque·ness, noun
- un·gro·tesque, adjective
Words Nearby grotesque
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use grotesque in a sentence
While that imagery is grotesque, such skin-related fretting is commonplace among QAnon followers.
It would fit conventional wisdom to fault Nixon for the grotesque policy mistakes of the ongoing war on drugs.
The War on Drugs turns 50 today. It’s time to make peace. | David Farber | June 17, 2021 | Washington PostWith films that look like works of art — some grotesque, others gentle — Szumowska made her English debut with the 2019 horror film, The Other Lamb, about life in a cult.
In the opening of this novel, which is set in 1991, a grotesque personal tragedy has caused Anna to take to the road, abandoning her job, her husband and baby son.
In her novel ‘When the Stars Go Dark,’ Paula McLain draws on abuse cases, including her own | Maureen Corrigan | April 23, 2021 | Washington PostThat dignity resides in the miserable daily onslaught of unexpected maladies and misfortunes, some of which boggle the mind in their grotesque improbability but all of which must be ignored instantly and totally.
The Nationals didn’t seek this pain, but they might be growing from it | Thomas M. Boswell | April 22, 2021 | Washington Post
grotesque profiteering aside, life release ceremonies can devastate the eco-system.
The Buddhist Business of Poaching Animals for Good Karma | Brendon Hong | December 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhy is the sight—or mere thought—of other adults having sex thought of as grotesque, bad, or forbidden in the year 2014?
Porn Stars Are People Too, Dammit: Lisa Ann’s Notre Dame Date and the Trolling of David Gregory | Aurora Snow | October 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTExcept in cases with the highest body count, or the most grotesque cruelty, white victims were the only ones that mattered.
At least Jake Gyllenhaal shaved off his grotesque face scarf this year.
Leo, the Beard Has to Go: When a Man’s Facial Hair Reaches Crisis Point | Tim Teeman | September 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe killing of aid worker David Haines is another grotesque spectacle by a group determined to outrage the West.
ISIS Murder of British Hostage Likely to Draw UK Deeper Into New War | Nico Hines | September 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe costumes were exceedingly grotesque and suggestive of the New rather than of the Old World.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.Above, great standard electric lamps shed their white glare upon the eddying throng casting a myriad of grotesque shadows.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. LockeThe shadows lengthened and crept out like stealthy, grotesque monsters across the grass.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate ChopinThe educated world repeated to itself these grotesque fallacies till it lost sight of plain and simple truths.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockHe found himself trying to frame the words, but they broke into incoherent prayers, still to the same grotesque tune.
Uncanny Tales | Various
British Dictionary definitions for grotesque
/ (ɡrəʊˈtɛsk) /
strangely or fantastically distorted; bizarre: a grotesque reflection in the mirror
of or characteristic of the grotesque in art
absurdly incongruous; in a ludicrous context: a grotesque turn of phrase
a 16th-century decorative style in which parts of human, animal, and plant forms are distorted and mixed
a decorative device, as in painting or sculpture, in this style
printing the family of 19th-century sans serif display types
any grotesque person or thing
Origin of grotesque
1Derived 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
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