Grand Guignol
noun
Grand Gui·gnol
ˌgräⁿ-gēn-ˈyȯl 
-ˈyōl
: dramatic entertainment featuring the gruesome or horrible
Grand Guignol
adjective
Examples of Grand Guignol in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For so long, the R.N. had been, as in a favorite Grand Guignol performance at the Luxembourg Gardens, the grand méchant loup who terrorized the trois petits cochons.
—
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024
And that goes for his already-historic, Grand Guignol kill with a view, too.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 31 May 2024
The stakes just keep getting higher in this Grand Guignol of bloodthirsty excess, as bereaved government agent Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) descends into shocking depravity in his pursuit of serial killer Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik).
—EW.com, 2 June 2024
Their performances in this gonzo sci-fi fest verge on camp, as does the movie's Grand Guignol sense of violence.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023
The truth gets revealed, and Roth’s Grand Guignol set-pieces work as allegories for today’s paranoid sense of a country founded by pilgrims that now either can’t — or won’t — save itself.
—Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2023
There have been brief bursts of Grand Guignol in England and elsewhere through the years, but not too many in the U.S. — though this is not the first time the Yale Cabaret has ventured into the form.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 Jan. 2023
The sheer irreverence of everything here, starting with a Grand Guignol shower of guts and ending on one hell of an existential question mark, is more than enough to cause serious giggling fits.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2023
What if laughing at a boy getting his ear ripped off is not merely Grand Guignol comedy, but also a realistic response to an extreme situation, by a person, incidentally, whose job probably invites him to see murder and mayhem as mundane.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2023
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024
And that goes for his already-historic, Grand Guignol kill with a view, too.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 31 May 2024
The stakes just keep getting higher in this Grand Guignol of bloodthirsty excess, as bereaved government agent Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) descends into shocking depravity in his pursuit of serial killer Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik).
—EW.com, 2 June 2024
Their performances in this gonzo sci-fi fest verge on camp, as does the movie's Grand Guignol sense of violence.
—Katie Rife, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023
The truth gets revealed, and Roth’s Grand Guignol set-pieces work as allegories for today’s paranoid sense of a country founded by pilgrims that now either can’t — or won’t — save itself.
—Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2023
There have been brief bursts of Grand Guignol in England and elsewhere through the years, but not too many in the U.S. — though this is not the first time the Yale Cabaret has ventured into the form.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 Jan. 2023
The sheer irreverence of everything here, starting with a Grand Guignol shower of guts and ending on one hell of an existential question mark, is more than enough to cause serious giggling fits.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2023
What if laughing at a boy getting his ear ripped off is not merely Grand Guignol comedy, but also a realistic response to an extreme situation, by a person, incidentally, whose job probably invites him to see murder and mayhem as mundane.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Grand Guignol.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near Grand Guignol
Cite this Entry
“Grand Guignol.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Grand%20Guignol. Accessed 26 Jul. 2024.
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