baroque
- (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.
- (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.
Origin of baroque
Related Words for baroque
florid, rococo, ornate, gilt, flamboyant, grotesque, rich, bizarre, convoluted, elaborate, extravagant, embellished, ornamentedExamples from the Web for baroque
Contemporary Examples of baroque
Dinner was a baroque affair, on the beach, a warm breeze gently blowing.
Inside, the club is built like a baroque theater, with a dance floor in the center and rows of loggias up the walls.
Who was the most erotic poet of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, when the quatrain reached its courtly zenith?
Matthew just got it—the dialogue especially, as baroque as it is.
The clavecinistes of the French baroque were especially keen on the idea.
Historical Examples of baroque
An early letter from Rome had a good deal to say about the Baroque.
On the StairsHenry B. Fuller
The architecture is Gothic, with many traces of Baroque and Mudjar art.
Old Continental TownsWalter M. Gallichan
The body is constructed of a baroque pearl; the tail terminates in a point.
JewelleryH. Clifford Smith,
The church is gray limestone, like the residence, with a baroque faade.
The Haciendas of MexicoPaul Alexander Bartlett
True, the beauty of baroque had not been discovered in his day.
AloneNorman Douglas
baroque
- 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
- denoting, being in, or relating to the baroque
- (of pearls) irregularly shaped
Word Origin for baroque
Word Origin and History for baroque
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.