Definition of "rococo" [ro•co•co]

• A style of art, especially architecture and decorative art, that originated in France in the early 18th century and is marked by elaborate ornamentation, as with a profusion of scrolls, foliage, and animal forms. (noun)
• A very ornate style of speech or writing. (noun)
• Music A style of composition arising in 18th-century France, often viewed as an extension of the baroque, and characterized by a high degree of ornamentation and lightness of expression. (noun)
• Of or relating to the rococo. (adjective)
• Immoderately elaborate or complicated. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In one shot she poses in a loud kimono-style dress and caresses the tail of a stuffed pheasant that forms part of what can only be described as a rococo charcuterie ensemble."
• "Enlightenment, to realism, though on occasion it has affinities with what could be called rococo in its artistic style."
• "The stitch illustrated in fig. 87 is known as rococo stitch."