Lloyd Rose
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When Renaissance Italians began exploring the ancient Roman ruins around them, they discovered fantastic mural paintings that they called grottesca (which means "grotesques," a name given to the paintings because they were found in caves, or grotte). Because they were so old, the murals were also called antichi, or "ancient things." English speakers adopted antichi, modifying it to antike or anticke, and eventually any behavior or dress reminiscent of the kind depicted in the Roman murals became known as an antic. Within 20 years of its earliest recorded uses as a noun, antic began appearing as an English adjective. Originally, it meant "grotesque" or "bizarre" (a sense now considered archaic), but today it means "playful, funny, or absurd" and the noun means "an often wildly playful or funny act."
Synonyms
Examples of antic in a Sentence
James Grebey, TIME, 25 Oct. 2024
Republicans in July overcame qualms about Trump’s polarizing antics and legal problems to nominate him a third time, galvanized after an assassination attempt by a gunman whose bullets nicked Trump’s ear at a Pennsylvania rally, killed a supporter and raised national tensions.
—Julia Prodis Sulek, The Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2024
Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune Europe, 23 Oct. 2024
But dismissing Pyongyang’s charm offensive as just another antic would be a massive missed opportunity.
—Jung-Chul Lee, Foreign Affairs, 21 Jan. 2015
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Cite this Entry
“Antic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antic. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
antic
1 of 2 noun
antic
2 of 2 adjective
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