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."
Examples of antic in a Sentence
Peter Debruge, Variety, 7 June 2025
Because the film leans so heavily into its breakneck antics, the folks here mostly come off more as a collection of stereotypes than as realistic people tackling a credible crisis.
—Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 6 June 2025
Chris Branch, New York Times, 22 May 2025
The antic good humor with which those humans under attack cope is admirable, but we’re reminded this is no joke when one employee’s visiting teenage son is killed.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 8 Jan. 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 13 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
antic
1 of 2 noun
antic
2 of 2 adjective
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