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baroque

[buh-rohk; French ba-rawk]
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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

RELATED WORDS

florid, rococo, ornate, gilt, flamboyant, grotesque, rich, bizarre, convoluted, elaborate, extravagant, embellished, ornamented

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

Contemporary Examples of baroque

Historical Examples of baroque

  • An early letter from Rome had a good deal to say about the Baroque.

    On the Stairs

    Henry B. Fuller

  • The architecture is Gothic, with many traces of Baroque and Mudjar art.

    Old Continental Towns

    Walter M. Gallichan

  • The body is constructed of a baroque pearl; the tail terminates in a point.

    Jewellery

    H. Clifford Smith,

  • The church is gray limestone, like the residence, with a baroque faade.

    The Haciendas of Mexico

    Paul Alexander Bartlett

  • True, the beauty of baroque had not been discovered in his day.

    Alone

    Norman Douglas

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
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.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.