Via French baroque (which originally meant a pearl of irregular shape), from Portuguese barroco (“irregular pearl”); related to Spanish barrueco and Italian barocco, of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly from Latin verrūca (“wart”). It has been suggested that the term derives from Baroco, a technical term from scholastic logic.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bæˈɹɒk/

Rhymes: -ɒk

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bəˈɹoʊk/

Rhymes: -əʊk

baroque (comparative baroquer, superlative baroquest)

1. Ornate, intricate, decorated, laden with detail.
2. Complex and beautiful, despite an outward irregularity.
3. Chiseled from stone, or shaped from wood, in a garish, crooked, twisted, or slanted sort of way, grotesque.
4. Embellished with figures and forms such that every level of relief gives way to more details and contrasts.
5. (sometimes capitalized) Characteristic of Western art and music of the Early Modern period.
   • 2022 May 2, Mary Beth Bauermann, “Bach-Rock: When Rock Went Baroque”, in Flat Hat Magazine‎^[1], archived from the original on 9 July 2025:

     According to baroque.org, characteristics of baroque music include loud and soft dynamics, emphasis on harmony, and the use of string instruments and the harpsichord.

6. (figuratively) Overly and needlessly complicated.

   grotesquely baroque bureaucratic hassles

   baroque bookkeeping in pursuit of tax dodges

baroque (plural baroques)

1. An ornate, detailed style.
   • 2003, Michael Jacobs, The Road to Santiago, page 103:

     […] has semi-circular arches similar to those in Bourges, but pierced by unusual and irregular openings, and ringed with amusing portrait heads such as would not be found in the great Gothic Baroques of France.

• Baquero

Inherited from Middle French baroque, originally denoting a pearl of irregular shape, from Italian barocco, Spanish barrueco, or Portuguese barroco, all possibly from Latin verrūca (“wart”).

• IPA^(key): /ba.ʁɔk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

baroque (plural baroques)

1. baroque (all senses)

• → English: baroque
• → Polish: barok
• → Spanish: barroco

• “baroque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

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