rococo

American  

[ruh-koh-koh, roh-kuh-koh] / rəˈkoʊ koʊ, ˌroʊ kəˈkoʊ /

noun

1. a style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by its elegant refinement in using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shellwork, foliage, etc.

2. a homophonic musical style of the middle 18th century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.

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adjective

1. (initial capital letter)

   1. noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material.

   2. designating a corresponding style of sculpture, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.

2. of, pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo.

   rococo charm.

3. ornate or florid in speech, literary style, etc.

rococo British  

/ rəˈkəʊkəʊ /

noun

1. a style of architecture and decoration that originated in France in the early 18th century, characterized by elaborate but graceful, light, ornamentation, often containing asymmetrical motifs

2. an 18th-century style of music characterized by petite prettiness, a decline in the use of counterpoint, and extreme use of ornamentation

3. any florid or excessively ornamental style

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adjective

1. denoting, being in, or relating to the rococo

2. florid or excessively elaborate

rococo Cultural  

1. A style of baroque art and architecture popular in Europe during the eighteenth century, characterized by flowing lines and elaborate decoration.

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Etymology

Origin of rococo

First recorded in 1830–40; from French, akin to rocaille “use of pebbles and shells in ornamental work; pebble-work”; rocaille

Example Sentences

The palazzo is filled with ornate wall coverings and moldings, rococo furniture and artworks, and marble floors with intricately detailed inlays.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026

People were befuddled by Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making passion project, a rococo take on the collapse of an empire.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 26, 2025

This was on a recent morning in a rococo hotel room, just west of Madison Square Park.

From New York Times • Apr. 2, 2024

Bertie’s extant sketches for the wall paneling, ceiling decorations and library shelves in the main rooms are rich in rococo borders and ornament.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 14, 2023

The front of the plant was a brick commercial building of the nineteenth century with a mansard roof that bulged out into several rococo dormer windows, the panes of which were mostly cracked.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

Related Words

• ornate