Quasimodo

1
[ kwah-suh-moh-doh, -zuh-moh- ]

noun
  1. the ugly, humpbacked protagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo.

Origin of Quasimodo

1
First recorded in 1840–50 for def. 1; from Late Latin, from the opening words of the introit antiphon for the Sunday: Quasi modo genitī infantēs … “As just born children …” (1 Pet. 2:2); 1830–35 for def. 2

Words Nearby Quasimodo

Other definitions for Quasimodo (2 of 2)

Quasimodo2
[ kwah-suh-moh-doh, -zuh-moh-; Italian kwah-zee-maw-daw ]

noun
  1. Sal·va·to·re [sahl-vah-taw-re], /ˌsɑl vɑˈtɔ rɛ/, 1901–68, Italian poet: Nobel Prize 1959.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Quasimodo in a sentence

  • In closing, it had cut off the only ray of joy and of light which still made its way into the soul of Quasimodo.

    Notre-Dame de Paris | Victor Hugo

British Dictionary definitions for Quasimodo

Quasimodo

/ (ˌkwɔːzɪˈməʊdəʊ) /


noun
  1. another name for Low Sunday

  2. a character in Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), a grotesque hunch-backed bellringer of the cathedral of Notre Dame

  1. (Italian kwaˈziːmodo) Salvatore (salvaˈtoːre). 1901–68, Italian poet, whose early work expresses symbolist ideas and techniques. His later work is more concerned with political and social issues: Nobel prize for literature 1959

Origin of Quasimodo

1
(sense 1) from the opening words of the Latin introit for that day, quasimodo geniti infantes as new-born babies

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012