grotesque
adjective
[ ɡrə(ʊ)ˈtɛsk ]
• comically or repulsively ugly or distorted.
• "a figure wearing a grotesque mask"
Similar:
malformed,
deformed,
misshapen,
misproportioned,
distorted,
twisted,
gnarled,
mangled,
mutilated,
ugly,
unsightly,
monstrous,
hideous,
freakish,
unnatural,
abnormal,
bizarre,
outlandish,
strange,
odd,
peculiar,
fantastic,
fanciful,
whimsical,
weird,
freaky,
fugly,
rum,
huckery,
grotesque
noun
• a very ugly or comically distorted figure or image.
• "the rods are carved in the form of a series of gargoyle faces and grotesques"
• a family of 19th-century sans serif typefaces.
Origin:
mid 16th century (as noun): from French crotesque (the earliest form in English), from Italian grottesca, from opera or pittura grottesca ‘work or painting resembling that found in a grotto’; ‘grotto’ here probably denoted the rooms of ancient buildings in Rome which had been revealed by excavations, and which contained murals in the grotesque style.
