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Definition of picaresque


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pic·a·resque  audio  (pk-rsk, pk-) KEY  

ADJECTIVE:
  1. Of or involving clever rogues or adventurers.
  2. Of or relating to a genre of usually satiric prose fiction originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social degree living by his or her wits in a corrupt society.
NOUN:
One that is picaresque.

ETYMOLOGY:
French, from Spanish picaresco, from pícaro, picaro ; see picaro


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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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