Instead the ravages of terminal cancer were apparent, as were the rather pathetic and grotesque attempts to ignore them.

One knew he was a ferocious creature because of his harsh gestures, rapid hoppings and grotesque attempts to balance on one leg.

He will see in them grotesque attempts of nature to foretell or to repeat himself.

"We have the Brilliant Pebbles, sir," the Secretary of Defense said with a grotesque attempt at confidence.

Fyodor has come here unasked and spewed a torrent of cruel fantastic nonsense in a grotesque attempt at bludgeoning her into bed.

Instead, in a grotesque attempt to explain, he dragged back his face with his hands into a hideous mask, and bared his teeth.

But it was even harder to picture one of the territorial nations planning such a grotesque attempt at world conquest.

The dog reached the edge of his shelf and made a grotesque attempt to launch himself in the direction from which he had heard Waldo's voice.

I made still other almost equally grotesque attempts to express this doglike affection.

The Socialists barred him from meetings, and Pat Cox, the Parliament's president, dismissed his campaign as a "grotesque attempt to maximize personal publicity."