curious
UK /ˈkjʊə.ɹi.əs/ · US /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ adjective
Forms curiouser curiousest
- adjective Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying. “Young children are naturally curious about the world and everything in it.”
- adjective Caused by curiosity.
- adjective Leading one to ask questions about; somewhat odd, out of the ordinary, or unusual. “The platypus is a curious creature, with fur like a mammal and a beak like a bird.”
- adjective (in combination) Interested in entering a romantic or sexual relationship with a specified group.
- adjective (obsolete) Careful, fastidious, particular; (specifically) demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
- adjective (obsolete) Carefully or artfully constructed; made with great elegance or skill.
- adjective (inorganic chemistry, rare) Containing or pertaining to trivalent curium.
Synonyms
enquiring, inquiring exquisitive investigative peery aberrant abnormal alien anomalous as queer as Dick's hatband bizarre booky deviant discrepant eerie eldritch errant exceptional extraordinary fey forby funny odd peculiar queer rum rummy singular
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English curious, from Old French curius, from Latin cūriōsus. The English word is cognate with Italian curioso, Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso, and Spanish curioso. Displaced native Old English firwitġeorn.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.]
- adjective Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
Etymology [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “curious”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details