GOTHIC

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Gothic mean? 

• GOTHIC (noun)
  The noun GOTHIC has 3 senses:

1. extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas

2. a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries

3. a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches

  Familiarity information: GOTHIC used as a noun is uncommon.

• GOTHIC (adjective)
  The adjective GOTHIC has 5 senses:

1. characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German

2. of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths

3. of or relating to the Goths

4. as if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened

5. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque

  Familiarity information: GOTHIC used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GOTHIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Gothic" is a kind of...):

East Germanic; East Germanic language (an extinct branch of the Germanic languages)

Derivation:

Gothic (of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

black letter; Gothic

Hypernyms ("Gothic" is a kind of...):

case; face; font; fount; typeface (a specific size and style of type within a type family)

Derivation:

Gothic (characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries; characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

Gothic; Gothic architecture

Hypernyms ("Gothic" is a kind of...):

architectural style; style of architecture; type of architecture (architecture as a kind of art form)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Gothic"):

English-Gothic; English-Gothic architecture; perpendicular; perpendicular style (a Gothic style in 14th and 15th century England; characterized by vertical lines and a four-centered (Tudor) arch and fan vaulting)

• GOTHIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

Gothic (a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries)

Derivation:

Gothic (a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

the Gothic Bible translation

Pertainym:

Gothic (extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas)

Derivation:

Gothic (extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths; the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Of or relating to the Goths

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Gothic migrations

Pertainym:

Goth (one of the Teutonic people who invaded the Roman Empire in the 3rd to 5th centuries)

Sense 4

Meaning:

As if belonging to the Middle Ages; old-fashioned and unenlightened

Synonyms:

gothic; mediaeval; medieval

Context example:

a medieval attitude toward dating

Similar:

nonmodern (not modern; of or characteristic of an earlier time)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque

Context example:

gothic novels like 'Frankenstein'

Similar:

strange; unusual (being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird)

Domain category:

literature (creative writing of recognized artistic value)

 Context examples 

The whole building enclosed a large court; and two sides of the quadrangle, rich in Gothic ornaments, stood forward for admiration.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A Gothic arched door led to a worn stone staircase.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The height of the trees and the thickness of the boles exceeded anything which I in my town-bred life could have imagined, shooting upwards in magnificent columns until, at an enormous distance above our heads, we could dimly discern the spot where they threw out their side-branches into Gothic upward curves which coalesced to form one great matted roof of verdure, through which only an occasional golden ray of sunshine shot downwards to trace a thin dazzling line of light amidst the majestic obscurity.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To be sure, the pointed arch was preserved—the form of them was Gothic—they might be even casements—but every pane was so large, so clear, so light!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

As they drew near the end of their journey, her impatience for a sight of the abbey—for some time suspended by his conversation on subjects very different—returned in full force, and every bend in the road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its massy walls of grey stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams of the sun playing in beautiful splendour on its high Gothic windows.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The windows, to which she looked with peculiar dependence, from having heard the general talk of his preserving them in their Gothic form with reverential care, were yet less what her fancy had portrayed.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

On a chance we tried an important-looking door, and walked into a high Gothic library, panelled with carved English oak, and probably transported complete from some ruin overseas.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)