/
grə(ʊ)ˈtɛsk/
adj.
- comically or repulsively ugly or distorted.
- shockingly incongruous or inappropriate.
n.
- a grotesque figure or image.
- a style of decorative painting or sculpture consisting of the interweaving of human and animal forms with flowers and foliage.
- Printing a family of 19th-century sans serif typefaces.
Derivative
- grotesquely adv.
- grotesqueness n.
Etymology
C16 (as n.): from Fr. crotesque, from Ital. grottesca, from opera or pittura grottesca ‘work or painting resembling that found in a grotto’.