grotesquerie

noun /ɡɹoʊˈtɛskəɹi/

1. An instance of grotesqueness, a grotesque thing.

   countable, uncountable

2. Grotesque things collectively.

   countable, uncountable

3. Grotesqueness, the quality of being grotesque or macabre.

   countable, uncountable

   She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact, drowsily realizing that since she had fallen asleep it had come on to rain smartly out of a shrouded sky.

4. A genre of horror literature that was popular in the early 20th century, and practiced by writers such as Ambrose Bierce and Fritz Leiber.

   countable, uncountable

Where it comes from

From French grotesquerie, from grotesque (“farcical, grotesque”) + -erie (“-ery”), from Italian grottesco, from grotta (“cave, grotto”) + -esco (“-esque, -ish”). Equivalent to grotesque + -erie.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry grotesquerie (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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