grotesquerie

variants also grotesquery
Definition of grotesquerienext
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

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 grotesquerie Platter can hardly go more than a few pages without noting one grotesquerie or another. Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026 The abundance of these grotesqueries was almost stranger than their existence. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 14 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 See All Example Sentences for grotesquerie
Recent Examples of Synonyms for grotesquerie
Noun
  • The wereboar growled next to Black Pudding, a hulking vicious monster, both focused on ripping Puck and Cordelia to shreds.
    Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Daniel Bernhardt is Deathstalker, a legendary swordsman stuck with a cursed amulet who befriends swamp monsters and teams with a mini wizard (voiced by Patton Oswalt) to stop a dark magic from ruling the land.
    Brian Truitt, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2026
Noun
  • The script, by Ed Solomon, treats the Sklar siblings as cardboard grotesques—heartless, talentless, united in their loathing of a father who loathes them right back.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Indeed, compared with the realistically creased faces and hangdog stares of the Cubs, the Boston fans behind them are closer to grotesques, an inhuman crush of caricatures.
    Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 10 Feb. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Grotesquerie.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/grotesquerie. Accessed 14 Apr. 2026.

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