grotesqueness

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Ancient Greek κρύπτω (krúptō) Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ)bor. Latin crypta Italian grotta Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-iskbor. Vulgar Latin -iscus Italian -esco Italian grottescobor. Middle French grotesquebor. English grotesque Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English grotesqueness From grotesque + -ness.

1. Synonym of grotesquerie, the quality of being grotesque.

   “She was aware of a perverse flicker of thought in herself: If this idea did, somehow, have legs (which it almost certainly did not – it was crazy, maybe illegal, unsavory to the point of grotesqueness), then she’d want to get a real writer on it.”