CURIOUS

curious

(adjective) eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes about others’ concerns); “a curious child is a teacher’s delight”; “a trap door that made me curious”; “curious investigators”; “traffic was slowed by curious rubberneckers”; “curious about the neighbor’s doings”

curious, funny, odd, peculiar, queer, rum, rummy, singular

(adjective) beyond or deviating from the usual or expected; “a curious hybrid accent”; “her speech has a funny twang”; “they have some funny ideas about war”; “had an odd name”; “the peculiar aromatic odor of cloves”; “something definitely queer about this town”; “what a rum fellow”; “singular behavior”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

curious (comparative more curious or curiouser, superlative most curious or curiousest)

Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.

Synonyms: enquiring, inquiring, exquisitive (obsolete), investigative, peery (rare)

Antonyms: incurious, noncurious, uncurious

Caused by curiosity.

Leading one to ask questions about; somewhat odd, out of the ordinary, or unusual.

Synonym: Thesaurus:strange

Antonym: uncurious

(obsolete) Careful, fastidious, particular; (specifically) demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.

(obsolete) Carefully or artfully constructed; made with great elegance or skill.

Usage notes

The comparative and superlative forms curiouser and curiousest are regarded as informal or nonstandard.

Source: Wiktionary


Cu"ri*ous (k"r-s), a. Etym: [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]

1. Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.] Little curious in her clothes. Fuller. How shall we, If he be curious, work upon his faith Bean &

2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill. To devise curious works. Ex. xxxv. 32 His body couched in a curious bed. Shak.

3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; -- sometimes with after or of. It is a picurious after things that were elegant and beatiful should not have been as curious as to their origin, their uses, and their natural history. Woodward.

4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise; inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or plain; strange; rare. "Acurious tale" Shak. A multitude of curious analogies. Mocaulay. Many a quaint and curiousvolume of forgotten lore. E. A. Poe. Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of learning or sciense often bring to light curious results. C. J. Smith. Curious arts, magic. [Obs.] Many . . . which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them. Acts xix. 19.

Syn.

– Inquisitive; prying. See Inquisitive.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

23 November 2024

THEORETICAL

(adjective) concerned primarily with theories or hypotheses rather than practical considerations; “theoretical science”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the largest iced coffee is 14,228.1 liters and was created by Caffé Bene (South Korea), in Yangju, South Korea, on 17 July 2014. They poured iced black Americano on the giant cup that measured 3.3 meters tall and 2.62 meters wide.

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