1
as in loud
disagreeable to one's aesthetic or artistic sense
the gaudy, overdecorated interior of the gambling casino was just too grotesque for my taste
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ugly
unpleasant to look at
that bloody Halloween mask is grotesque
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in monster
a strange or horrible and often frightening creature
a gallery of grotesques from some horror movie
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of grotesque
Christine Peterson, Vox, 27 June 2025
The world is cruel, unfair and full of horrors, many of which will grow increasingly grotesque in our lifetimes.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 27 June 2025
The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
His early short films, such as Six Men Getting Sick (1967) and The Grandmother (1970), showcased his talent for blending the grotesque with the beautiful, setting the stage for his groundbreaking debut feature, Eraserhead (1977).
—Darryn King, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grotesque
Adjective
In the early 1900s, long before smartphones and selfie sticks, tourists flocked to Yellowstone National Park — not for the geysers or scenery, but for a grotesque show: A nightly spectacle of grizzly bears raiding cafeteria scraps from open-pit landfills like desperate, starving pirates.
—Christine Peterson, Vox, 27 June 2025
The world is cruel, unfair and full of horrors, many of which will grow increasingly grotesque in our lifetimes.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 27 June 2025
Noun
Winifred, the protagonist of this Victorian-era grotesque, takes a position as a governess at an English manor.
—The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
His early short films, such as Six Men Getting Sick (1967) and The Grandmother (1970), showcased his talent for blending the grotesque with the beautiful, setting the stage for his groundbreaking debut feature, Eraserhead (1977).
—Darryn King, Forbes, 17 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grotesque
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grotesque
Adjective
-
Room for improvement The cabin is so loud even with the top up that conversation with a partner was difficult at speed.—
Josh Max,
Forbes.com,
5 July 2025
-
To give you an idea of how loud that is, city traffic is 85 decibels, and a siren is 120 decibels.—
Leanne Potts,
Better Homes & Gardens,
5 July 2025
Adjective
-
And by sharing the ugly parts, she's made golf feel more human.—
Devlina Sarkar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 July 2025
-
In ‘24, Hoover and the offense were a mess through the first six games, which included a rash of turnovers and ugly home defeats to Houston and Central Florida.—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
10 July 2025
Noun
-
Call of Cthulhu flipped a lot of gaming conventions on their head with characters that degraded over time and scenarios that rewarded fleeing monsters instead of slaying them.—
Rob Wieland,
Forbes.com,
3 July 2025
-
Complaining on NextDoor about traffic, some locals fled downtown Austin like a movie monster was stomping behind them.—
Ramon Ramirez,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
Adjective
-
The biggest change was the introduction of the punitive second apron, which imposed harsh team-building restrictions on teams that crossed said line.—
Bryan Toporek,
Forbes.com,
10 July 2025
-
Unlike harsher retinoids, this one is gentle enough for sensitive skin.—
Simon Hill,
Wired News,
10 July 2025
Adjective
-
Luthor combats Superman through a combination of science and technology — injecting nanobot GPS trackers into Superman’s bloodstream — using methods that recall the hideous Covid manipulation.—
Armond White,
National Review,
11 July 2025
-
The dark edge in Bushnell’s writing reflects less a brave new world than a world that is the hideous extension of the old one.—
Alice Bolin
June 23,
Literary Hub,
23 June 2025
Noun
-
High-end grotesqueries out of Fellini or Visconti would have been more apt.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
-
By contrast, Doom: The Dark Ages flings the player back into the dark ages to witness a war between two factions that look like a low-rent knock-off imitation of series like Warhammer — grotesqueries and all.—
Kazuma Hashimoto,
Rolling Stone,
31 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Somewhere in a far-off third-world nation, children die at a jarring rate from malnutrition.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
6 July 2025
-
Millennial and older thrill-seekers may remember rides like Orient Express, a red double-loop steel roller coaster or Timber Wolf, a jarring wooden coaster that is currently closed for the 2025 season.—
Abbey Briscoe,
Kansas City Star,
4 July 2025
Adjective
-
Smears on non-sensor areas of the tiara are like bug debris on your hood, aesthetically unpleasing but not harmful.—
Eric Tegler,
Popular Mechanics,
1 Oct. 2019
-
His side's inability to finish off the game against Burnley on the other hand was very unpleasing.—
SI.com,
SI.com,
1 Feb. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Grotesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grotesque. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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