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Gothic vs Classical - What's the difference?

gothic | classical |

As adjectives the difference between gothic and classical

is that gothic is of or relating to the Goths while classical is of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.

As a proper noun Gothic

is an extinct Germanic language, once spoken by the Goths.

As a noun Gothic

is a novel written in the Gothic style.

gothic

English

(Gothic language)

Alternative forms

* Gothick (obsolete)

Proper noun

(en proper noun)
  • an extinct Germanic language, once spoken by the Goths
  • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • of or relating to the Goths.
  • barbarous, rude, unpolished, belonging to the "Dark Ages", medieval as opposed to classical.
  • "Enormities which gleam like comets through the darkness of gothic and superstitious ages." (Percy Bysshe Shelley in a 1812 letter, Prose Works (1888) II.384, cited after OED)
  • of or relating to the architectural style favored in western Europe in the 12th to 16th centuries.
  • of or relating to the style of fictional writing associated with the Gothic revival, emphasizing violent or macabre events in a mysterious, desolate setting.
  • (typography) in England, of the name of type formerly used to print German, also known as black letter .
  • (typography) in the USA, of a sans serif typeface using straight, even-width lines, also called grotesque
  • of or relating to the goth subculture or lifestyle.
  • Why is this gothic glam so popular? (New Musical Express 24 December 1983, cited after OED)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A novel written in the Gothic style.
  • * 1996 , Nora Sayre, Sixties going on seventies (page 180)
  • One hundred fifty Gothics sold over 1.5 million copies a month last spring.

    Derived terms

    * goth * Goth * gothic * neogothic * Mesogothic * Moesogothic * Suio-Gothic * Visigothic

    See also

    * (got)

    classical

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.
  • * Arbuthnot
  • Mr. Greaves may justly be reckoned a classical author on this subject.
  • Of or pertaining to established principles in a discipline.
  • *
  • Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get; what you get is classical alpha-taxonomy which is, very largely and for sound reasons, in disrepute today.
  • (music) Describing European music and musicians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
  • (informal, music) Describing serious music (rather than pop, jazz, blues etc), especially when played using instruments of the orchestra.
  • Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, especially to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds.
  • * Macaulay
  • He [Atterbury] directed the classical studies of the undergraduates of his college.
  • Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined; as, a classical style.
  • * Macaulay
  • Classical , provincial, and national synods.
  • (physics) Pertaining to models of physical laws that do not take quantum or relativistic effects into account; Newtonian or Maxwellian.
  • Synonyms

    * classic

    Derived terms

    * Classical Greece * Classical Greek * classical history * Classical Latin * classical music