Grotesque

grotesque
    adj 1: distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and
           hideous; "tales of grotesque serpents eight fathoms long
           that churned the seas"; "twisted into monstrous shapes"
           [syn: {grotesque}, {monstrous}]
    2: ludicrously odd; "Hamlet's assumed antic disposition";
       "fantastic Halloween costumes"; "a grotesque reflection in
       the mirror" [syn: {antic}, {fantastic}, {fantastical},
       {grotesque}]
    n 1: art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of
         humans and animals interwoven with plants
    

Grotesque \Gro*tesque"\ (gr[-o]*t[e^]sk"), a. [F., fr. It.
   grottesco, fr. grotta grotto. See {Grotto}.]
   1. Like the figures found in ancient grottoes; grottolike.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Hence: Wildly or strangely formed; whimsical; extravagant;
      of irregular forms and proportions; fantastic; ludicrous;
      antic. "Grotesque design." --Dryden. "Grotesque
      incidents." --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Grotesque \Gro*tesque\, n.
   1. A whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old
      crypts and grottoes. --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Artificial grotto-work.
      [1913 Webster]
    

125 Moby Thesaurus words for "grotesque":
      Gothic, aberrant, abnormal, absurd, anomalous, antic, art object,
      bandy, bandy-legged, baroque, beyond belief, bizarre, blemished,
      bloated, bowlegged, brain-born, brainchild, bric-a-brac, cacogenic,
      classic, club-footed, cockamamie, comic, comical, composition,
      crazy, creation, curious, defaced, deformed, design, disfigured,
      distorted, dream-built, droll, dwarfed, eerie, extravagant,
      extreme, fanciful, fancy-born, fancy-built, fancy-woven, fantasque,
      fantastic, flamboyant, flatfooted, florid, foolish, freak,
      freakish, gargoylish, gnarled, gruesome, high-flown, ill-made,
      ill-proportioned, ill-shaped, incongruous, incredible, kitsch,
      knock-kneed, laughable, ludicrous, maggoty, malformed, marred,
      master, masterpiece, masterwork, misbegotten, misproportioned,
      misshapen, mobile, monstrous, museum piece, mutilated, nonsensical,
      notional, nude, odd, offbeat, old master, out of shape, outlandish,
      outrageous, outre, pasticcio, pastiche, peculiar, piece,
      piece of virtu, pigeon-toed, poppycockish, preposterous, pug-nosed,
      queer, rachitic, rickety, ridiculous, rococo, shapeless, simous,
      snub-nosed, stabile, statue, still life, strange, study, stumpy,
      swaybacked, talipedic, teratic, teratogenic, teratoid, truncated,
      twisted, uncanny, unshapely, virtu, weird, whimsical, wild, work,
      work of art