GROTESQUE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does grotesque mean? 

• GROTESQUE (noun)
  The noun GROTESQUE has 1 sense:

1. art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants

  Familiarity information: GROTESQUE used as a noun is very rare.

• GROTESQUE (adjective)
  The adjective GROTESQUE has 2 senses:

1. distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous

2. ludicrously odd

  Familiarity information: GROTESQUE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GROTESQUE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

art; fine art (the products of human creativity; works of art collectively)

• GROTESQUE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous

Synonyms:

grotesque; monstrous

Context example:

twisted into monstrous shapes

Similar:

ugly (displeasing to the senses)

Derivation:

grotesqueness (ludicrous or incongruous unnaturalness or distortion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ludicrously odd

Synonyms:

antic; fantastic; fantastical; grotesque

Context example:

a grotesque reflection in the mirror

Similar:

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

Derivation:

grotesqueness (ludicrous or incongruous unnaturalness or distortion)

 Context examples 

How do you define the word “grotesque”?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“They are singular, not to say grotesque,” said Holmes.

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

It seems to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise.

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

And for the space of several minutes he lay there, quiet, indulging his grotesque fancy.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It all seemed grotesque to me, and presently I said:—Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but this certainly puzzles me.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

His audacities of phrase struck him as grotesque, his felicities of expression were monstrosities, and everything was absurd, unreal, and impossible.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He tells stories of his own doings which are so grotesque that they can only be explained by the madness which runs in his blood.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

DFT1 causes grotesque and disfiguring facial tumours, which usually kill affected individuals.

(Human anti-cancer drugs could help treat transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils, University of Cambridge)

It is monstrous—grotesque.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was still looking at them, and also at intervals examining the teachers—none of whom precisely pleased me; for the stout one was a little coarse, the dark one not a little fierce, the foreigner harsh and grotesque, and Miss Miller, poor thing! looked purple, weather-beaten, and over-worked—when, as my eye wandered from face to face, the whole school rose simultaneously, as if moved by a common spring.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)