grotesque

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Twisted or exaggerated so much that it looks bizarre, ugly, or disturbing, sometimes in a darkly comic way.

   Grammar: Works before a noun or after a verb: a grotesque mask; the mask looked grotesque.

   Patterns

   • look grotesque
   • a grotesque figure
   • grotesque in appearance

   The gargoyles on the old cathedral had grotesque faces with bulging eyes and stretched mouths.

   In the dim light, his shadow on the wall looked grotesque.

   The cartoonist drew the tyrant as a grotesque figure with a tiny head and enormous belly.

2. 2adjectivecomparabledisapproving

   Shockingly unreasonable or offensive, because it goes far beyond what is acceptable or fair.

   Grammar: Used for ideas, behavior, or amounts, not just things you can see: a grotesque injustice.

   Patterns

   • a grotesque abuse of something
   • grotesque inequality

   Critics called the executive's bonus a grotesque reward for failure.

   It is grotesque to joke about a tragedy while families are still grieving.

   The trial was a grotesque parody of justice.

3. 3nouncountable or uncountablespecialist

   A decorative style, or a work of art, that mixes human, animal, and plant forms in fantastic and distorted ways.

   Grammar: Usually preceded by the: the grotesque describes the style, a grotesque is one example.

   Patterns

   • the grotesque in art

   The novelist is famous for her use of the grotesque in stories about small-town life.

   Renaissance painters revived the grotesque after discovering old Roman wall paintings.

   The cathedral roof is crowded with stone grotesques.

Word forms

Common combinations

grotesque distortion

The mirror gave her a grotesque distortion of her own face.

grotesque caricature

The film offered a grotesque caricature of life in the countryside.

grotesque exaggeration

Calling him a hero is a grotesque exaggeration.

look grotesque

The sculpture looked grotesque from below but graceful from the front.

grotesque injustice

Locking up the whistleblower was a grotesque injustice.

Synonyms and how they differ

monstrous

Monstrous stresses huge size or great wickedness, while grotesque stresses odd, distorted shape.

bizarre

Bizarre means merely very strange and need not be ugly or disturbing, which grotesque usually is.

hideous

Hideous simply means very ugly, whereas grotesque suggests ugliness caused by distortion or exaggeration.

outrageous

Outrageous focuses on shock at bad behavior, and it fits the second sense of grotesque but not the visual one.

Opposites

Word family

grotesquely adverb

in a distorted or shockingly extreme way

grotesqueness noun

the quality of being grotesque

grotesquerie noun

something grotesque, or grotesque quality in art

grotto noun

a small cave; the word grotesque comes from old paintings found in cave-like Roman ruins

Commonly confused: grotesque or gothic?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “grotesque”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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