American Gothic

American  

noun

1. a painting (1930) by Grant Wood.

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American Gothic Cultural  

1. A painting by the twentieth-century American artist Grant Wood. It shows a gaunt farmer and a woman standing in front of a farmhouse; the man holds a pitchfork, and both wear severe expressions.

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American Gothic has been the subject of many parodies on magazine covers and in advertising.

Example Sentences

It’s a story decidedly in the American Gothic mode.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

The painting American Gothic by Grant Wood, depicting a stern-looking farming couple is seared into our collective consciousness as what it means to be an American, and what traditional American values are.

From Scientific American • Nov. 21, 2018

Ms. Humphreville, 32, is a senior curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan, where she worked on the recent exhibition “Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables.”

From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2018

Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander, who directed an episode of American Gothic that Caso shot, posted video of the cinematographer’s speech on Twitter:

From Slate • Feb. 18, 2018

Imagine a Muslim version of the American Gothic couple, with a beard on the husband and a black hijab on the wife.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali