Words / C2

b-uh-ROK/bəˈrɒk/

Baroque is the ornate 17th-century style, and, of writing or design, extravagantly elaborate: baroque architecture, baroque syntax. Ornate is decorated; florid (already in the dictionary) is over-decorated. Turgid and overwrought (already in the dictionary) are pompously swollen and overworked. Ornament does not invent an n.

Meaning

Of the ornate 17th-century style; of writing or design, extravagantly elaborate.

Examples

• “Baroque prose does not invent a cell that is empty.”
• “Ornate is decorated. Florid is flushed or overdone (already in C2). Turgid is pompously overwritten (already in C2). Overwrought is overworked (already in C2). A short clause can still be exact. A curling sentence that never states the n is theatre. Write the number; then the volute.”

Good to know

Ornate; extravagantly elaborate. Everyday: ornate. Close: florid (already in C2). Contrast: turgid / overwrought (already in C2). Prose ≠ an n.

Near in meaning

ornate, elaborate, florid, rococo

New