baroque

[ buh-rohk; French ba-rawk ]

/ bəˈroʊk; French baˈrɔk /

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Definition of baroque

adjective

(often initial capital letter) of or relating to a style of architecture and art originating in Italy in the early 17th century and variously prevalent in Europe and the New World for a century and a half, characterized by free and sculptural use of the classical orders and ornament, by forms in elevation and plan suggesting movement, and by dramatic effect in which architecture, painting, sculpture, and the decorative arts often worked to combined effect.

(sometimes initial capital letter) of or relating to the musical period following the Renaissance, extending roughly from 1600 to 1750.

extravagantly ornate, florid, and convoluted in character or style: the baroque prose of the novel's more lurid passages.

irregular in shape: baroque pearls.

noun

(often initial capital letter) the baroque style or period.

anything extravagantly ornamented, especially something so ornate as to be in bad taste.

an irregularly shaped pearl.

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Origin of baroque

1755–65; <French <Portuguese barroco, barroca irregularly shaped pearl (of obscure origin; compare Spanish berrueco, barrueco granitic crag, irregular pearl, spherical nodule), probably conflated with Medieval Latin baroco invented word for a kind of obfuscating syllogism

Words nearby baroque

baron of beef, Barons' War, barony, barophilic, barophoresis, baroque, baroque organ, baroreceptor, baroscope, barosinusitis, barostat

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use baroque in a sentence

Fancy gallery openings, exclusive art fairs, and posh auction houses seem designed to scare away casual collectors who don’t have stacked bank accounts or the pedigree to distinguish rococo from baroque.
✦ How to buy art|Anne Quito|February 4, 2022|Quartz
Having learned the rules of baroque music, the machines come up with more of the same.
This NFT Painting Is a Work of Art - Issue 104: Harmony|Arthur I. Miller|August 18, 2021|Nautilus
He passed the time moving between his cabin and the drinks car, a baroque affair with velvet curtains.
Inside the FBI, Russia, and Ukraine’s failed cybercrime investigation|Patrick Howell O'Neill|July 8, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Dinner was a baroque affair, on the beach, a warm breeze gently blowing.
Canada ♥ Cuba Just Got Complicated|Shinan Govani|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Inside, the club is built like a baroque theater, with a dance floor in the center and rows of loggias up the walls.
Russia’s Gold Digger Academy|Peter Pomerantsev|November 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Who was the most erotic poet of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, when the quatrain reached its courtly zenith?
Sor Juana: Mexico’s Most Erotic Poet and Its Most Dangerous Nun|Katie Baker|November 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It all gets even more baroque, and, in the short term anyway, even worse for the Tories.
An Independent Scotland Will Hurt Labour|Michael Tomasky|September 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This New York paper gets L.A., and explores and reveals it in a fresh, fittingly baroque, and often unpredictable way.
The Hypocrisy Behind The New York Times’s Abrupt Decapitation of Jill Abramson|Robert Shrum|May 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The performance one hears in a concert hall or opera house is no more than a baroque parody upon the thing the composer imagined.
Damn!|Henry Louis Mencken
The church is gray limestone, like the residence, with a baroque faade.
The Haciendas of Mexico|Paul Alexander Bartlett
The building is a handsome one, in the baroque style, in the Calle de San Fernando.
The Story of Seville|Walter M. Gallichan
The present church is baroque in style, but contains some works of art of earlier periods.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1|Various
It is otherwise when a rich lady's dressing-table in baroque or rococo is decorated with such scenes.
The Influence of the Bible on Civilisation|Ernst Von Dobschutz

British Dictionary definitions for baroque

baroque

/ (bəˈrɒk, bəˈrəʊk) /

noun (often capital)

a style of architecture and decorative art that flourished throughout Europe from the late 16th to the early 18th century, characterized by extensive ornamentation

a 17th-century style of music characterized by extensive use of the thorough bass and of ornamentation

any ornate or heavily ornamented style

adjective

denoting, being in, or relating to the baroque

(of pearls) irregularly shaped

Word Origin for baroque

C18: from French, from Portuguese barroco a rough or imperfectly shaped pearl

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

Cultural definitions for baroque

baroque

[ (buh-rohk) ]

A period in the arts, visual and musical, from about 1600 to about 1750, marked by elaborate ornamentation and efforts to create dramatic effects. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederick Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi were great composers of the baroque era.

baroque

Definition of baroque

Origin of baroque

Words nearby baroque

Words related to baroque

How to use baroque in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for baroque

Word Origin for baroque

Cultural definitions for baroque