gothic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   of a European architectural style marked by pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and high, elaborate structures

   The chapel has narrow Gothic windows and a vaulted stone roof.

2. 2
   adj

   of fiction or art characterized by mystery, horror, decay, and a threatening atmosphere

   The novel combines a ruined mansion with distinctly gothic suspense.

3. 3
   adj

   relating to the ancient Goths or their extinct Germanic language

   Only fragments survive outside the Gothic Bible translation.

From Late Latin Gothicus, 'of the Goths.' Renaissance writers applied the name dismissively to medieval architecture, believing it nonclassical or barbarous; later it named the literary tradition of medieval settings, terror, and mystery.

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