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