picaresque
Americanadjective
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pertaining to, characteristic of, or characterized by a form of prose fiction, originally developed in Spain, in which the adventures of an engagingly roguish hero are described in a series of usually humorous or satiric episodes that often depict, in realistic detail, the everyday life of the common people.
picaresque novel; picaresque hero.
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of, relating to, or resembling rogues.
adjective
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of or relating to a type of fiction in which the hero, a rogue, goes through a series of episodic adventures. It originated in Spain in the 16th century
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of or involving rogues or picaroons
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of picaresque
First recorded in 1800–10; from Spanish picaresco; see picaro, -esque
Explanation
Use the adjective picaresque to describe your favorite kind of story, if it involves characters having exciting, dangerous adventures. A picaresque novel features clever adventurers, often poor but spunky heroes who live by their wits and come out ahead in the end. This kind of book first became popular in Spain in the 1500s. Well known authors, including Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, later used a picaresque style for some of their work. It's easy to confuse picaresque, "rascally," with its near sound-alike, picturesque, or "lovely to look at."
Vocabulary lists containing picaresque
Into the Wild
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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Literary Genres - Advanced
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Picaresque, 593-page novel about a high-pressure, radical Manhattan adman, stranded in Seattle, who gets entangled with quacks, radical slickers and adventuresses, in a gory, last-scene fight saves his soul and his future father-in-law's brewery.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had acquired a vaguely British accent and was, fittingly, the author of The Picaresque Novel, a study of rogues in literature.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Picaresque novel in Spain and its counterparts, Till Eulenspiegel or Reinecke Vos in the north, told the adventures of some rascal or vagabond.
From The Age of the Reformation by Smith, Preserved
Mateo Aleman, the author of the great Picaresque romance of Guzman de Alfarache, was a native of Seville.
From Legends & Romances of Spain by Spence, Lewis
The realism of Defoe and Hogarth, and the Spanish Picaresque novel.
From The Unity of Civilization by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
