weird

[ weerd ]

adjective

, weird·er, weird·est.

1. strange; odd; bizarre:

   Wow, that’s a weird getup.

   I value our friendship, and I’m afraid if we start dating, it’ll get weird between us.

2. Informal. not functioning properly or as expected; unstable; broken:

   My connection is weird so I can’t tell if they’re getting my messages or not.

   The car is great except for a weird compressor that doesn't work when you run the AC at a red light.

3. involving or suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny:

   a weird sound;

   weird lights.

   Synonyms: unearthly, spectral, preternatural, unnatural, janky, strange, peculiar, eccentric

   Antonyms: unexceptional, ordinary, normal

4. Archaic. concerned with or controlling fate or destiny.

noun

, Chiefly Scot.

1. fate; destiny.
2. the Weirds, the Fates.

verb phrase

1. Slang. to feel or cause to feel discomfort, confusion, or fear because of perceived strangeness:

   The cultlike admiration of some of her followers always weirded me out a little.

weird

/ wɪəd /

adjective

1. suggestive of or relating to the supernatural; eerie
2. strange or bizarre
3. archaic.
   of or relating to fate or the Fates

noun

1. archaic.
   1. fate or destiny
   2. one of the Fates
2. See dree
   dree one's weird
   dree one's weird See dree

verb

1. tr to destine or ordain by fate; predict

Derived Forms

• ˈweirdly, adverb
• ˈweirdness, noun

Other Words From

• weird·ly adverb
• weird·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of weird¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun werd, wered, wird (northern form), Old English wyrd, weord; akin to worth ²; Middle English adjective originally attributive noun in phrase werde sisters “the Fates” (popularized as appellation of the witches in Macbeth )

Word History and Origins

Origin of weird¹

Old English ( ge ) wyrd destiny; related to weorthan to become, Old Norse urthr bane, Old Saxon wurd; see worth ²

Synonym Study

weird, eerie, unearthly, uncanny refer to that which is mysterious and apparently outside natural law. Weird can refer to that which is suggestive of the fateful intervention of supernatural influences in human affairs: the weird adventures of a group lost in the jungle. Eerie refers to that which, by suggesting the ghostly, makes one's flesh creep: an eerie moaning from a deserted house. Unearthly refers to that which seems by its nature to belong to another world: an unearthly light that preceded the storm. Uncanny refers to that which is mysterious because of its apparent defiance of the laws established by experience: an uncanny ability to recall numbers. See bizarre.

Example Sentences

We can discuss how incredibly weird a lot of the stuff we are all taught is normal actually is!

From Vox

“It’s not that these events are weird one-off things … this is actually a pretty significant source of mortality,” says Eli Strauss, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

From Science News

Perhaps you have mentioned your camp-bathroom woes in conversation, and perhaps all of your friends, almost without fail, have said, “This might sound weird, but I have definitely used my kid’s potty-training toilet in an emergency.”

From Outside Online

“It’s weird to think that this object should be becoming a comet when I’m retiring,” Volk says.

From Science News

SNL writer Sam Jay’s hour-long stand-up special is a weird and wonderful collection of everything that comes into her head in the wee hours when everyone else is asleep.

From Ozy

To make it work almost everything else about these shows has to seem factual which is why many look like a weird Celebrity Sims.

From The Daily Beast

And, as the enigmatic front man to an avant garde indie rock group, he is droll, perceptive, and splendidly weird.

From The Daily Beast

Actually, the guessing game is over; the weddings have begun, as have weird attempts to circumvent our constitutional democracy.

From The Daily Beast

It was fearless and raunchy and fun and ridiculous and weird and feminist and powerful.

From The Daily Beast

What follows is hysterical, painful, weird, and strangely touching—a true Festivus for the rest of us.

From The Daily Beast

They are so rich in harmony, so weird, so wild, that when you hear them you are like a sea-weed cast upon the bosom of the ocean.

From Project Gutenberg

Her bare shoulders looked waxen and unnatural in the weird light which shone down upon them.

From Project Gutenberg

It's seeing people and objects in their weird entirety, in their true and complete shapes, that is so distressing.

From Project Gutenberg

The oaks were either dead or dying, and the whole district had an inexpressibly blasted and weird appearance.

From Project Gutenberg

As if to deepen the effect of the weird stage setting, Nature contrived that all the winds which blew here should blow mournfully.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• awful
• creepy
• curious
• eccentric
• eerie
• eldritch
• freaky
• funky
• ghastly
• haunting
• horrific
• kooky
• magical
• mysterious
• outlandish
• peculiar
• spooky
• strange
• supernatural
• unnatural

How Do You Spell weird?

Spelling tips for weird

The word weird is hard to spell because the i goes before the e in many common words, like believe or chief, but weird doesn’t follow this rule.  

How to spell weird: To spell weird, remember that weird is weird; it doesn’t follow the classic “I before E except after C” rule. Another way to remember the order of i and e in weird is that it looks weird if you spell it wierd.