baroque
adj.adj. describing art, music, or architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries that is very detailed, dramatic, and ornate. You use it when something feels rich and complex rather than simple.
adj. characterized by ornate detail, dramatic intensity, and complex forms; typically referring to European art, music, and architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries. Often used as a stylistic descriptor for anything excessively elaborate.
The palace has a beautiful baroque style.
The museum's baroque wing features gold leaf and dramatic marble statues.
Scholars debate whether the composer's late works represent a transition from baroque complexity to classical clarity.
Via French (which originally meant a pearl of irregular shape) from Portuguese barroco (“irregular pearl”); related to Spanish barrueco and Italian barocco and Sicilian baroccu, of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly from Latin verruca (“wart”), or possibly from the technical construction of scholastic logic, Baroco.
Often capitalised when referring to the specific historical period; lowercase when used as a general adjective for ornate style.