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Gothic

Gothic means related to medieval style or the horror and mystery depicted in fiction about the 18th and 19th centuries. (adjective)

An example of a gothic structure is the Reims Cathedral in France.
An example of gothic style is dark makeup, dark clothes and hair dyed black.

Gothic is an East Germanic language, or an architecture style of the 12th through 16th centuries. (noun)

An example of gothic is the Reims Cathedral in France.

See Gothic in Webster's New World College Dictionary

adjective

of the Goths or their language or culture
designating, of, or related to a style of architecture developed in W Europe between the 12th and 16th cent. and characterized by the use of ribbed vaulting, flying buttresses, pointed arches, steep, high roofs, etc.
1. medieval
2. not classical
3. barbarous; uncivilized
of or having to do with a type of fiction orig. and esp. of the late 18th and early 19th cent. using remote (and, orig., medieval) settings and a sinister, eerie atmosphere to suggest horror and mystery
designating or of a type of romance () set typically in the 18th or 19th cent. and relating the melodramatic adventures of the heroine

noun

the East Germanic language of the Goths: it is known chiefly from the Bible translations of Bishop Ulfilas
Gothic style, esp. in architecture
Printing
1. ☆ a style of sans-serif type
2. a heavy, ornate style of type, now used especially in calligraphy

Related Forms:

Gothically adverb
Gothicness noun

See Gothic in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(gŏthˈĭk)

adjective

a. Of or relating to the Goths or their language.
b. Germanic; Teutonic.
Of or relating to the Middle Ages; medieval.
a. Of or relating to an architectural style prevalent in western Europe from the 12th through the 15th century and characterized by pointed arches, rib vaulting, and a developing emphasis on verticality and the impression of height.
b. Of or relating to an architectural style derived from medieval Gothic.
Of or relating to painting, sculpture, or other art forms prevalent in northern Europe from the 12th through the 15th century.
often gothic Of or relating to a style of fiction that emphasizes the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.
gothic Barbarous; crude.

noun

The extinct East Germanic language of the Goths.
Gothic art or architecture.
often gothic Printing
a. See black letter.
b. See sans serif.
A novel in a style emphasizing the grotesque, mysterious, and desolate.

Related Forms:

Gothˈi·cal·ly adverb

Word History: The combination Gothic romance represents a union of two of the major influences in the development of European culture, the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes that invaded it. The Roman origins of romance must be sought in the etymology of that word, but we can see clearly that Gothic is related to the name Goth used for one of those invading Germanic tribes. The word Gothic, first recorded in 1611 in a reference to the language of the Goths, was extended in sense in several ways, meaning “Germanic,” “medieval, not classical,” “barbarous,” and also an architectural style that was not Greek or Roman. Horace Walpole applied the word Gothic to his novel The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story (1765) in the sense “medieval, not classical.” From this novel filled with scenes of terror and gloom in a medieval setting descended a literary genre still popular today; from its subtitle descended the name for it.

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