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
Relevance
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of grotesque
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 2025
The viral series has proved wildly popular with Gen Alpha but controversial with parents—each episode features grotesque images of heads poking out of stained toilet bowls, engaged in a fierce battle with mechanical men made of media equipment, such as speakers, televisions and cameras.
—Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 21 May 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
Reddit users immediately rushed to share both their shock and poke fun at the incident through lighthearted takes and grotesque anecdotes about the dangers that may be lurking in some seafood dishes.
—Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 June 2025
The viral series has proved wildly popular with Gen Alpha but controversial with parents—each episode features grotesque images of heads poking out of stained toilet bowls, engaged in a fierce battle with mechanical men made of media equipment, such as speakers, televisions and cameras.
—Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 21 May 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
-
No loud colors, no mismatched chairs, even the waiters had to wear off-white.—
Nicholas Rice,
People.com,
5 July 2025
-
Ocean City officials have confirmed that fireworks — not gunfire — were the source of loud noises that caused panic and sent crowds scrambling on the boardwalk Friday night.—
Todd Karpovich,
Baltimore Sun,
5 July 2025
Adjective
-
The wild and ugly scenes saw rioters attack law enforcement with rocks and Molotov cocktails while others burned vehicles and other property.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
28 June 2025
-
The pair hit an ugly double-spinebuster on the Arabic announce table.—
Alfred Konuwa,
Forbes.com,
28 June 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
-
Murphy also ordered the feds to provide the monsters with interpreters and counsel.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
2 July 2025
Adjective
-
Come spring, the Ranger III carries everything from outhouses and diesel fuel for the generators to construction supplies to repair whatever damage Mother Nature did to facilities over the harsh winter.—
Diana Lambdin Meyer,
USA Today,
28 June 2025
-
The United States and Europe must finally sever all economic ties with Russia (e.g., nuclear partnerships) and impose harsher sanctions on Russia and secondary sanctions so that China and others face consequences for their support of the war.—
Laura Thornton,
Twin Cities,
27 June 2025
Adjective
-
One function of bug poems is to remind us that messier and more hideous relations always obtain.—
Hannah Brooks-Motl
June 2,
Literary Hub,
2 June 2025
-
An alarming situation looked all the more hideous as boos rained down at Dodger Stadium for the club’s fourth straight loss.—
Fabian Ardaya,
New York Times,
20 May 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 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share