picaresque

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The 18th century teemed with picaresque tales of comic misadventure.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

But that would deprive us of Courage’s wild picaresque through a rural and ravaged America.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2025

The sprawling, picaresque story uses 18th-century literary conventions to chronicle the adventures of Ebenezer Cooke, who takes possession of a tobacco farm in Maryland.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 2, 2024

“Oreo” is satire and metafiction, a picaresque and a bildungsroman.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2023

When Edward Abbey was writing The Monkey Wrench Gang, his picaresque novel about eco-terrorism in the canyon country, his pal Ken Sleight was said to have inspired the character Seldom Seen Smith.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer