Meaning of gothic in English

Table of contents
  1. Pronunciation
  2. Classifying Adjective
    1. Definitions
  3. Noun
    1. Definitions
  4. Qualitative Adjective
    1. Etymology
    2. Definitions

  1. Pronunciation

    /ˈɡɑθɪk/

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  1. Classifying Adjective

    gothic

    Definitions

    1. as if belonging to the Middle Ages

    Examples

    • « old-fashioned and unenlightened »
    • « a medieval attitude toward dating »

    Synonyms

  2. 2. characterized by gloom and mystery and the grotesque

    Examples

    • « gothic novels like 'Frankenstein' »

    Synonyms

  3. Noun

    Gothic

    Definitions

    1. extinct East Germanic language of the ancient Goths

    Examples

    • « the only surviving record being fragments of a 4th-century translation of the Bible by Bishop Ulfilas »
  4. 2. a heavy typeface in use from 15th to 18th centuries
  5. 3. a style of architecture developed in northern France that spread throughout Europe between the 12th and 16th centuries

    Examples

    • « characterized by slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by vaulting and pointed arches »

  6. Qualitative Adjective

    Gothic

    Etymology

    from French gothique or late Latin gothicus, from Gothi (see Goth). It was used in the 17th and 18th centuries to mean ‘not classical’ (i.e. not Greek or Roman), and hence to refer to medieval architecture which did not follow classical models (Gothic (sense 2 of the adjective)) and a typeface based on medieval handwriting (Gothic (sense 4 of the adjective))

    Definitions

    1. characteristic of the style of type commonly used for printing German
  7. 2. of or relating to the language of the ancient Goths

    Examples

    • « the Gothic Bible translation »
  8. 3. of or relating to the Goths

    Examples

    • « Gothic migrations »

Famous quotes

  • « Revived in this country the long forgotten beauties of Gothic architecture. »
    James Wyatt
  • « The principle of the Gothic architecture is infinity made imaginable. »
    Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  • « But if you read Jane Austen, you know that she had a wicked sense of humor. Not only was she funny, but her early writing was very dark and had a gothic tone to it. »
    Seth Grahame-Smith
  • « Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process. »
    Kenneth Clark
  • « Irish fiction is full of secrets, guilty pasts, divided identities. It is no wonder that there is such a rich tradition of Gothic writing in a nation so haunted by history. »
    Terry Eagleton

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