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