| a. | 1. | Like the figures found in ancient grottoes; grottolike. |
| 2. | Wildly or strangely formed; whimsical; extravagant; of irregular forms and proportions; fantastic; ludicrous; antic. | |
| n. | 1. | A whimsical figure, or scene, such as is found in old crypts and grottoes. |
| 2. | Artificial grotto-work. |
| Noun | 1. | grotesque - art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants |
| Adj. | 1. | grotesque - 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" |
| 2. | grotesque - ludicrously odd; "Hamlet's assumed antic disposition"; "fantastic Halloween costumes"; "a grotesque reflection in the mirror" |