1. characterized by an ornate, elaborate, and often obscure style of writing or speech; excessively flowery or complex in language
Usage: literary; often used critically to describe overly complicated prose

Examples

• The poet's gongoristic verses were so densely metaphorical that few readers could understand them.
• Critics dismissed the novel's gongoristic prose as pretentious and self-indulgent.
• Her gongoristic writing style made even simple ideas sound unnecessarily complicated.
• The gongoristic language of the baroque period often prioritized beauty over clarity.
• His gongoristic tendency to use obscure vocabulary alienated many of his potential readers.
• The essay's gongoristic tone suggested the author was more interested in impressing than informing.