Grotesque Meaning
/ɡɹəʊˈtɛsk/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjDistorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal, especially in a hideous way.
adjDisgusting or otherwise viscerally revolting.
Sentence Examples
They made huge, grotesque, yet beautiful poles of red cedar.
If the agreement were enforced, it would create a situation verging on the grotesque.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The artist's painting of a twisted face was so ____ that children cried.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The gargoyles on the old cathedral were carved with ____ faces that were meant to ward off evil spirits.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Ancient Greek κρύπτω (krúptō) Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ)bor. Latin crypta Italian grotta Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-iskbor. Vulgar Latin -iscus Italian -esco Italian grottescobor. Middle French grotesquebor. English grotesque Borrowed from Middle French grotesque, from Italian grottesco, from grotta (“cave”) + -esco (relational suffix). By surface analysis, grotto + -esque. Compare French grotesque, English grotto.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The chimney-piece was of party-coloured marble, covered with figures, some of whose faces were beautiful, but generally running off into those grotesque combinations which characterised the peculiar taste of their time."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 114:
"A Libyan longing took us, and we would have chosen, if we could, to bear a strand of grotesque beads, or a handful of brazen gauds, and traffic them for some sable maid with crisp locks, whom, uncoffling from the captive train beside the desert, we should make to do our general housework forever, through the right of lawful purchase."
— 1912, The World's Wit and Humor, page 176:
"Some of the vehicles are, indeed, taxis, but all of them are unoccupied, and most have their doors left open. There are colossally tall darkened figures stalking down the streets, so dark and slender that Wheeler actually fails to notice them. There is screaming, a grotesque, awful screaming coming from many human mouths, coming from somewhere down the main road. But that's the only way he can go."
— 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 141:
"Trump’s grotesque and incomprehensible fondness for Putin makes the details of any deal highly dangerous for Europe and the NATO alliance, founded to confront Russia."
— 2024 November 9, Nick Paton Walsh, “Trump’s second term could bring chaos around the world. Will it work?”, in CNN:
"Obese and largely unintelligible, Don Vito represents a working-class white male grotesque, the picture of excess."
— 2009, Emily Chivers Yochim, Skate Life, page 128:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The artist's painting of a twisted face was so ____ that children cried.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The gargoyles on the old cathedral were carved with ____ faces that were meant to ward off evil spirits.