Synonyms

eerie

American

[eer-ee] / ˈɪər i /

Or eery

adjective

eerier, eeriest

uncanny, so as to inspire superstitious fear; weird

an eerie midnight howl.
Chiefly Scot. affected with superstitious fear.

eerie British

/ ˈɪərɪ /

adjective

(esp of places, an atmosphere, etc) mysteriously or uncannily frightening or disturbing; weird; ghostly

"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

Related Words

See weird.

Other Word Forms

eerily adverb
eeriness noun

Etymology

Origin of eerie

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English eri, dialectal variant of argh, Old English earg “cowardly”; cognate with Old Frisian erg, Old Norse argr “evil,” German arg “cowardly”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The room was long and narrow, with an absurdly low ceiling, and he was met with the eerie impression that he’d just stepped into a casket.

From Literature

"It had a cold, dark, eerie feeling in there," Davies said.

From BBC

The chairs, the mahogany bookcase, the old upright piano, all pulsed with an eerie light.

From Literature

Legos were used to send a warning to Ukrainians as the country was launching a new recruitment drive—to eerie effect.

From The Wall Street Journal

The palm wood snaking through the center of Mohammad Al Faraj’s eerie installation seems like the skeletal vertebrae of some giant creature.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023