Rococos

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A highly ornamental and theatrical style of art and architecture characterized by elaborate decoration, lightness, elegance, and use of curving natural forms
2. An 18th-century artistic movement noted for intricate details, pastel colors, and playful themes in design, painting, and sculpture
3. A decorative aesthetic emphasizing asymmetry, ornate motifs, and graceful curves often seen in interior design and fine arts from the early 1700s to mid-century

Etymology: "Rococos" is simply the plural of "rococo," so its story is the story of the noun it pluralises. That noun came into English from French, where "rococo" was a playful adaptation of "rocaille," the term for the rockwork and shell-encrusted ornament that decorated garden grottoes and interiors. The style it names is the lavish, asymmetrical, pastel-toned decoration of eighteenth-century European interiors, a kind of elaborate reaction against the stiffer formality of the preceding Baroque. The plural form is used when more than one example of that style, or more than one ornate piece of it, is being discussed.

Synonyms: rococo style, rococo artworks, rococo designs