Word.ws English Dictionary

clowncore

clowncore noun: an aesthetic focusing on imagery and fashion related to clowns.

Noun

clowncore (uncountable)

  1. An aesthetic focusing on imagery and fashion related to clowns.
    • Finally — at least for the moment — Riccardo Tisci piled on the stripes and dots and swirls (and ankle socks) earlier this month for his Givenchy spring 2017 collection. Little wonder, really, that in the middle of all that, Refinery29 ran an editorial called “Why It’s Cool to Look Like a Clown.”...[2016 October 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Creepy Clown in Your Closet”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Oct 2016
    • Another nonconformist aesthetic, Clowncore, emulates the style of clowns, mimes, and jesters. Although most of Clowncore is genial, some express it with a darker twist.2020, Piper Dafforn, “At the Core”, in Season, volume 3, number 1 (Don’t Put Me on Hold!), pages 4 and 7

Examples of clowncore in a sentence

  • Ernie Glam was a clowncore nightmare, makeup and costuming making his face terrifying and beautiful, his body at least half naked at all times.2022, Naomi Lilac Gordon, “Club Kids: New Age Freaks of the Bygone Era”, in Ink, volume 15, number 1, Richmond, Va.: VCU Student Media...
  • It’s not often that I’m totally turned off by a fashion trend (clowncore, I’m looking at you), but I have to admit I’m having a visceral reaction to miniskirts.2022 August, “Miniskirts are big news right now…”, in Cosmopolitan:
  • Let the man wear his “clowncore” jumpsuits in peace.2023 February 8, Arwa Mahdawi, “People like Harry Styles don’t get awards? Pah!”, in G2 (The Guardian), London, page 3:
  • Clowncore – near-ridiculous renditions of recognizable joker motifs – is sweeping the cirque du runway and ringmasters of the fashion circus are taking the theatrical trend to new heights.2023 March 29, Brooke Kato, “‘Clowncore,’ trend rocked by Harry Styles and Lady Gaga, is no joke”, in New York Post, New York, N.Y.: News...

Origin of clowncore

From clown + -core.

Questions about clowncore

What does clowncore mean?
Clowncore means an aesthetic focusing on imagery and fashion related to clowns.
How do you use clowncore in a sentence?
Ernie Glam was a clowncore nightmare, makeup and costuming making his face terrifying and beautiful, his body at least half naked at all times.
What part of speech is clowncore?
Clowncore is a noun.

Words near clowncore in the dictionary

  1. clown-car primaries
  2. clown-car primary
  3. clownage
  4. clowncel
  5. clowncels
  6. clowncore
  7. clowndom
  8. clowne
  9. clowned
  10. clowned about
  11. clowned around

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clowncore (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “clowncore.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clowncore. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.