Lloyd Rose
Did you know?
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."
Examples of antic in a Sentence
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 20 June 2025
Here, visitors with otherwise short attention spans may gaze at the watery offerings for hours, giggling at the antics of Atlantic puffins, gasping at the sight of blacktip reef sharks and basking in the biodiversity of the 13,000 organisms that have captivated crowds for 44 years.
—Mike Klingaman, Baltimore Sun, 17 June 2025
Dennis Harvey, Variety, 8 Jan. 2025
The energy of the performances — from Aduba’s deadpan forthrightness to the more antic work by comedians like Marino and Jane Curtin (as the president’s grouchy mother-in-law) — and the rat-a-tat style of all the conversations carries the day.
—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for antic
Cite this Entry
“Antic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antic. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
antic
1 of 2 noun
antic
2 of 2 adjective
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