rococo

UK: /rəˈkəʊkəʊ/

US: /rəˈkoʊkoʊ, ˌroʊkəˈkoʊ/

US: (rə kō′kō, rō′kə kō′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ro•co•co /rəˈkoʊkoʊ, ˌroʊkəˈkoʊ/   n. [uncountable]

1. Architecture, Furniture an artistic style, chiefly of 18th-century France, having careful elegance, delicate ornamentation, and curly decoration.

adj. 

2. Fine Art of or relating to rococo.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ro•co•co  (rə kō′kō, rō′kə kō′), n. 

1. Architecture, Furniture a style of architecture and decoration, originating in France about 1720, evolved from Baroque types and distinguished by its elegant refinement in using different materials for a delicate overall effect and by its ornament of shellwork, foliage, etc.
2. Music and Dance a homophonic musical style of the middle 18th century, marked by a generally superficial elegance and charm and by the use of elaborate ornamentation and stereotyped devices.

adj. 

3. Fine Art (cap.)
   • noting or pertaining to a style of painting developed simultaneously with the rococo in architecture and decoration, characterized chiefly by smallness of scale, delicacy of color, freedom of brushwork, and the selection of playful subjects as thematic material.
   • designating a corresponding style of sculpture, chiefly characterized by diminutiveness of Baroque forms and playfulness of theme.
4. Architecture, Furniture of, pertaining to, in the manner of, or suggested by rococo architecture, decoration, or music or the general atmosphere and spirit of the rococo:
   rococo charm.
5. ornate or florid in speech, literary style, etc.

• French, akin to rocaille rocaille
• 1830–40

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

rococo / rəˈkəʊkəʊ/ noun (often capital)

1. a style of architecture and decoration that originated in France in the early 18th century, characterized by elaborate but graceful, light, ornamentation, often containing asymmetrical motifs
2. an 18th-century style of music characterized by petite prettiness, a decline in the use of counterpoint, and extreme use of ornamentation
3. any florid or excessively ornamental style

adjective

1. denoting, being in, or relating to the rococo
2. florid or excessively elaborate

Etymology: 19th Century: from French, from rocaille, from roc rock¹