pertaining to, characteristic of, or characterized by a form of prose fiction, originally developed in Spain, in which the adventures of an engagingly roguish hero are described in a series of usually humorous or satiric episodes that often depict, in realistic detail, the everyday life of the common people:
Her characters are quixotic, picaresque heroes of the moral life.
His case is exceptional only for its picaresque twist.
Not many picaresque heroes find things so straightforward.
Its plot is picaresque and fabulous, slightly demented.
While the picture looks edited through a meat grinder, the source must have had something, judging by picaresque bits and pieces.
They usually revolved around a picaresque central character who comes of age at a crucial historic moment.
Often enough the destination didn't matter to a hitcher embarked on a personal picaresque.
Both sides have put forward aggressive arguments, at times tilting to the picaresque.
It is at once a comprehensive military and diplomatic account, and a vast picaresque.
Hence the book's picaresque quality-it is a string of anecdotes-and also, at times, a certain patness in the comedy.
British Dictionary definitions for picaresque
picaresque
/ˌpɪkəˈrɛsk/
adjective
1.
of or relating to a type of fiction in which the hero, a rogue, goes through a series of episodic adventures. It originated in Spain in the 16th century
2.
of or involving rogues or picaroons
Word Origin
C19: via French from Spanish picaresco, from pícaro a rogue
Word Origin and History for picaresque
adj.
1810, from Spanish picaresco "roguish," from picaro "rogue," of uncertain origin, possibly from picar "to pierce," from Vulgar Latin *piccare (see pike (n.2)). Originally in roman picaresque "rogue novel," the classic example being "Gil Blas."