variants
also grotesquery
as in monster
a strange or horrible and often frightening creature
born Joseph Merrick, the so-called Elephant Man was for a time exhibited as a sideshow grotesquerie
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of grotesquerie
More pointedly, Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt adds the grotesquerie of archaic beauty practices — both real and apocryphal — to create a feminist body-horror parable akin to last year’s The Substance.
—
Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
The director’s lifelong interest in the tenderness and grotesquerie is immediately apparent and presented with the kind of frenzied confidence that continues to make del Toro’s work feel explosive even as studios have made his movies more expensive and polished.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 8 Dec. 2025
Coll’s early works, with their prickly eclecticism and their fondness for instrumental grotesquerie, reflect the influence of Adès and György Ligeti, among others.
—Alex Ross, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
Dreamy forests and bright angels curdle and mutate into digital grotesquerie, a Spam Folder of faceless creatures and shock shlock.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grotesquerie
Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
The director’s lifelong interest in the tenderness and grotesquerie is immediately apparent and presented with the kind of frenzied confidence that continues to make del Toro’s work feel explosive even as studios have made his movies more expensive and polished.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 8 Dec. 2025
Coll’s early works, with their prickly eclecticism and their fondness for instrumental grotesquerie, reflect the influence of Adès and György Ligeti, among others.
—Alex Ross, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
Dreamy forests and bright angels curdle and mutate into digital grotesquerie, a Spam Folder of faceless creatures and shock shlock.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for grotesquerie
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grotesquerie
Noun
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In it, Oldham costumes up as a shaggy woodland monster, which—after a more nimble inhabitant seemingly swaps into the outfit—proceeds to engage a human in an elaborate dance routine.—
Jazz Monroe,
Pitchfork,
7 Jan. 2026
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That mentality has fueled a monster debut season for Porter County Conference leader Kouts (12-3, 4-1).—
Noah Poser,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Gilliam is an artist of bizarre panoramas; his imagination and humor are visual — full of the dystopic, the heroic, and the grotesque.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
1 Dec. 2025
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Medieval carvers had a not dissimilar approach to design, fashioning grotesques for obscure nooks in cathedrals.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Grotesquerie.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grotesquerie. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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