Lloyd Rose
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When Renaissance Italians began exploring the ancient Roman ruins around them, they discovered fantastic mural paintings that they called grottesca (which means "grotesques," a name given to the paintings because they were found in caves, or grotte). Because they were so old, the murals were also called antichi, or "ancient things." English speakers adopted antichi, modifying it to antike or anticke, and eventually any behavior or dress reminiscent of the kind depicted in the Roman murals became known as an antic. Within 20 years of its earliest recorded uses as a noun, antic began appearing as an English adjective. Originally, it meant "grotesque" or "bizarre" (a sense now considered archaic), but today it means "playful, funny, or absurd" and the noun means "an often wildly playful or funny act."
Synonyms
Examples of antic in a Sentence
The Enquirer, 1 Apr. 2024
Continue reading here… 'FULL CRAZY' - Sean 'Diddy' Combs wouldn't 'disclose' antics with Justin Bieber in resurfaced video with teen star.
—Fox News Staff, Fox News, 30 Mar. 2024
In fact, the pro-wrestling antics are the only really memorable thing about the film, a condemnation of its kooky, overstuffed plot.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 28 Mar. 2024
Such antics will not help news organizations in the long run, says Bogardus.
—Brian Steinberg, Variety, 28 Mar. 2024
One House Republican who spoke to USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly said the Freedom Caucus should have seen their waning influence coming after their antics.
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2024
This continued for the next several days, and the birds’ antics even brought in more than 30,000 viewers, who tuned in to watch the live cam on the nest on Monday, according to KTLA.
—Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 5 Mar. 2024
In the vacuum of news about her, however, experts say Mr. Goldsmith’s reality-TV antics may provide a welcome distraction for Britain’s tabloid papers.
—Mark Landler, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2024
Drew Barrymore, former Hollywood wild child turned rom-com star turned feelings-first talk show host, just revealed the way her daughter used one of her more antics against her.
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 28 Feb. 2024
Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2024
That febrile, antic movie mines another of Allen’s longtime motifs: the plot point of hiding evidence.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2024
Perhaps the most notorious Lopez antic is Robin’s rivalry with NBA mascots, which often ends with him and the mascot in a fake physical altercation.
—Skyler Trepel, Peoplemag, 27 Mar. 2024
Qualley and Viswanathan’s performances are pitched high; the former does a lot of antic monologuing.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2024
An antic Pierre Cardin (Eliott Margueron), who would work on Dior’s first collection, also makes an appearance.
—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2024
That the story presented me with an apparent dead end gave rise to its antic propulsion.
—Willing Davidson, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2024
This makes Benji the antic bomb-thrower and wild card, which is his comfort zone.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 21 Jan. 2024
Since the 1960s, Kempton had been writing sardonic dispatches from the underground scene for The Village Voice, describing in one an antic show by the Velvet Underground at Andy Warhol’s bar.
—Sasha Weiss, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'antic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Antic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antic. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
antic
1 of 2 noun
antic
2 of 2 adjective
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