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View synonyms for curious

curious

[ kyoor-ee-uhs ]

adjective

  1. eager to learn or know; inquisitive.

    Synonyms: interested, inquiring

    Antonyms: indifferent

  2. prying; meddlesome.

    Antonyms: indifferent

  3. arousing or exciting speculation, interest, or attention through being inexplicable or highly unusual; odd; strange:

    a curious sort of person;

    a curious scene.

    Synonyms: rare, novel, singular

  4. Archaic.
    1. made or prepared skillfully.
    2. done with painstaking accuracy or attention to detail:

      a curious inquiry.

    3. careful; fastidious.
    4. marked by intricacy or subtlety.


curious

/ ˈkjʊərɪəs /

adjective

  1. eager to learn; inquisitive
  2. overinquisitive; prying
  3. interesting because of oddness or novelty; strange; unexpected
  4. rare.
    (of workmanship, etc) highly detailed, intricate, or subtle
  5. obsolete.
    fastidious or hard to please
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈcuriousness, noun
  • ˈcuriously, adverb
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Other Words From

  • curi·ous·ly adverb
  • curi·ous·ness noun
  • non·curi·ous adjective
  • non·curi·ous·ly adverb
  • non·curi·ous·ness noun
  • over·curi·ous adjective
  • over·curi·ous·ly adverb
  • over·curi·ous·ness noun
  • super·curi·ous adjective
  • super·curi·ous·ly adverb
  • super·curi·ous·ness noun
  • un·curi·ous adjective
  • un·curi·ous·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of curious1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Latin cūriōsus “careful, inquisitive,” equivalent to cūri- (combining form of cūra “care”) + -ōsus -ous; cure
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Word History and Origins

Origin of curious1

C14: from Latin cūriōsus taking pains over something, from cūra care
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Synonym Study

Curious, inquisitive, meddlesome, prying refer to taking an undue (and petty) interest in others' affairs. Curious implies a desire to know what is not properly one's concern: curious about a neighbor's habits. Inquisitive implies asking impertinent questions in an effort to satisfy curiosity: inquisitive about a neighbor's habits. Meddlesome implies thrusting oneself into and taking an active part in other people's affairs entirely unasked and unwelcomed: a meddlesome cousin who tries to run the affairs of a family. Prying implies a meddlesome and persistent inquiring into others' affairs: a prying reporter inquiring into the secrets of a business firm.
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Example Sentences

It can give you an insight into what people are searching for, interested in, and curious about.

Instead, I’m curious how we can have so many different seed data signals in the same year.

Although Rachel is curious about Miriam’s spiritual life, especially jealous of the ease Miriam and her family share, it is more in physical ways that they connect.

Rivas recalls walking into the venue in Buenos Aires and being greeted by a massive — and curious — crowd of several thousand.

Shultz was a policy maven, conservative but curious, patient and determined.

Even other men of color considered Revels a curious figure, for Mississippi had never had a large free black population.

But the ads are not just intended to remind the Google-curious that Paul exists and is thinking about running for president.

As I got better, I also got curious about what happened to other patients like me.

I had, for a long time, been curious about the place where all this fantastic stuff was made.

He was way too ill to visit the set and all that, but was very curious about the film.

At last there appeared some probability of their accomplishing this, after a most curious and truly Mexican fashion.

He heard himself saying lightly, though with apparent lack of interest: 'How curious, Lettice, how very odd!

This judicial bent of the child is a curious one and often develops a priggish fondness for setting others morally straight.

Sebastian Brandt died; counsellor of Strassburg, a lawyer, and author of a curious poem.

Something within him wanted to go, something that was perhaps intellectually curious.

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Curiosity killed the catcurite