GROTESQUE

I. noun Etymology: Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French, from Old Italian (pittura) grottesca, literally, cave painting, feminine of grottesco of a cave, from grotta Date: 1561 1. a style of decorative art characterized by fanciful or fantastic human and animal forms often interwoven with foliage or similar figures that may distort the natural into absurdity, ugliness, or caricature, a piece of work in this style, one that is ~, sans serif , II. adjective Date: 1603 of, relating to, or having the characteristics of the ~: as, fanciful , bizarre , absurdly incongruous, departing markedly from the natural, the expected, or the typical, see: fantastic ~ly adverb ~ness noun