baroque

[buh-rohk; French ba-rawk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR baroque ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Nearby words

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for baroque

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
Matthew just got it—the dialogue especially, as baroque as it is.
Inside the Obsessive, Strange Mind of True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto|Andrew Romano|February 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The clavecinistes of the French baroque were especially keen on the idea.
For the Birds! – and Art Lovers|Blake Gopnik|December 10, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The Eclectic work was done with intelligence, but their system was against them and their baroque age was against them.
A Text-Book of the History of Painting|John C. Van Dyke
The variety of the architectural styles in this great building range from the Moorish to the baroque and the plateresque.
Old Continental Towns|Walter M. Gallichan
Especially meritorious were those of Salcillo, greatest of the baroque sculptors.
A History of Spain|Charles E. Chapman
There is hardly an Italian city that would not be poorer for the absence of the Baroque.
A Short History of Italy|Henry Dwight Sedgwick
He was a prolific painter, but his work tended toward the baroque style, and had a bad influence on the succeeding schools.
A Text-Book of the History of Painting|John C. Van Dyke

British Dictionary definitions for baroque

baroque

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

Word Origin and History for baroque

baroque

adj.

1765, from French baroque (15c.) "irregular," from Portuguese barroco "imperfect pearl," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Spanish berruca "a wart."

This style in decorations got the epithet of Barroque taste, derived from a word signifying pearls and teeth of unequal size. [Fuseli's translation of Winkelmann, 1765]

Klein suggests the name may be from Italian painter Federigo Barocci (1528-1612), a founder of the style. How to tell baroque from rococo, according to Fowler: "The characteristics of baroque are grandeur, pomposity, and weight; those of rococo are inconsequence, grace, and lightness." But the two terms often used without distinction for styles featuring odd and excessive ornamentation.

Culture 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

adjective

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of baroque

Examples from the Web for baroque

baroque

noun (often capital)

adjective

Word Origin for baroque

baroque

baroque