I. ˈgäthik, -thēk sometimes ˈgȯth- adjective
Etymology: Late Latin Gothicus, from Gothi + Latin -icus -ic
1. usually capitalized
a. : of, relating to, or resembling the Goths, their civilization, or their language
b. : teutonic , germanic
in German they have a kind of Gothic eloquence that does not survive translation — Winthrop Sargeant
the eclectic idiosyncracy and studied barbarism of Carlyle's Gothic style — W.H.Gardner
c.
(1) : of or relating to the middle ages : medieval
his face was calm and beautiful … above the Gothic splendor of his raiment — Elinor Wylie
the monkish or Gothic ages … were therefore despised by the scholar and the philosopher — L.G.Pine
a whole Gothic world had come to grief … there was now no armor glittering in the forest glades — Evelyn Waugh
(2) : uncouth , primitive , barbarous , uncivilized
the Gothic obscurities and barbarities of the past — Ernest Barker
the Gothic and barbarous self-complacency of his contemporaries — P.E.More
(3) : savage , ferocious
tetanus is a disease of Gothic ferocity — Berton Roueché
2. usually capitalized
a.
(1) : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in northern France and spreading through western Europe from the middle of the 12th century to the early 16th century that is characterized by the converging of weights and strains at isolated points upon slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses with the building becoming essentially a stone skeleton of pillars, props, and ribs upon which rest shells of vaulting, with the enclosing walls made thin or sometimes almost wholly replaced by large windows of colored glass stiffened with metalwork and stone tracery, and with pointed arches and vaulting replacing the round of the Romanesque
(2) : of or relating to an architectural style or an example of such style patterned upon or reflecting the strong influence of the medieval Gothic especially in outward form
a Gothic Presbyterian church
Gothic buildings on an American campus
the eye singles out the Gothic Woolworth Tower — Ford Times
b. : of or relating to an art style flourishing especially in northern Europe from the 12th through the 19th centuries and distinguished by an austere verticality and a tendency toward naturalism
c.
(1) : of or relating to a late 18th and early 19th century style of fiction characterized by the use of medieval settings, a murky atmosphere of horror and gloom, and macabre, mysterious, and violent incidents
(2) : of or relating to a literary style or an example of such style characterized by grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents or by an atmosphere of irrational violence, desolation, and decay
the foremost current … practitioner of the gruesomely Gothic weird tale — Fantasy & Science Fiction
compounded of fantasy surrealism, allegory, and Gothic sensationalism — William Peden
(3) : romantic in style or content as opposed to classical
3. usually capitalized
a. of handwriting : characterized by angularity and lateral compression — used specifically of a minuscule type of handwriting which developed in the 12th century in France from the Caroline minuscule and which in turn was the prototype of the modern black letter
b. : of or relating to this type of handwriting
the characteristic Gothic features
4. : fantastic , unreal , extravagant , baroque
a world of spooks and goblins … a gothic world — Herbert Read
allowing them lunch hours of gothic proportions — New Yorker
II. noun
1. capitalized : the East Germanic language of the Goths especially as represented by the surviving fragments of a 4th century biblical translation made by Bishop Wulfila ( ab A.D. 311-381) — see crimean gothic , east germanic ; indo-european languages table
2. usually capitalized : Gothic art style or decoration ; specifically : the Gothic architectural style
3. usually capitalized : Gothic writing or lettering
4. often capitalized
a. : black letter
b. : sans serif
III. noun
Usage: often capitalized
: a novel, film, or play in the gothic style