eerie

or ee·ry

[ eer-ee ]

adjective

, ee·ri·er, ee·ri·est.

1. uncanny, so as to inspire superstitious fear; weird

   an eerie midnight howl.

2. Chiefly Scot. affected with superstitious fear.

eerie

/ ˈɪərɪ /

adjective

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

Derived Forms

• ˈeeriness, noun
• ˈeerily, adverb

Other Words From

• ee·ri·ly adverb
• ee·ri·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of eerie¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of eerie¹

C13: originally Scottish and Northern English, probably from Old English earg cowardly, miserable

Synonym Study

See weird.

Example Sentences

Faintly we heard the eerie traces of high-pitched whale song, the complicated variation that the males sing, perhaps to warn off other males.

From Washington Post

Though this groundbreaking work could lead to better treatments for stroke and other brain injuries, it also opened an eerie gray zone between the living and the dead.

From Science News

The next day was beautiful, made eerie by the absence of the activity that usually pervades the first day of school in any city.

From ProPublica

It’s an odd concept, but in Schweblin’s hands, it works, and the result is an eerie, fascinating meditation on privacy, surveillance, and performance.

From Outside Online

Yet our first step was taken even earlier, revealed by an eerie homage to the underworld buried within the foothills of Turkey’s Taurus Mountains.

From Nautilus

Yet the eerie echoing of the earlier faux interview in another major media outlet was unsettling for jazz lovers.

From The Daily Beast

Yet there are glimpses of surpassingly eerie dystopian beauty.

From The Daily Beast

An examination of the eerie similarities between Litchfield Prison and Agrestic.

From The Daily Beast

Plus wearing gowns, gloves, goggles and masks imparts an eerie moonwalk sensation as one enters the facility.

From The Daily Beast

The music is eerie and disturbing, and it is easy to imagine how revolutionary it sounded in 1983.

From The Daily Beast

Overhead the rocky walls began to close, the light grew dim, ahead came that eerie glow from the magnetic statue.

From Project Gutenberg

She smiled like one who saw a happy vision, and an eerie expression stole into her face.

From Project Gutenberg

With another eerie howl the machine soared once more and bobbed completely over the cone to the street which must lie beyond it.

From Project Gutenberg

The eerie scream that came echoing through the ship seemed to lift up every single strand of hair on Thompson's head.

From Project Gutenberg

As Barney said, it made him “feel quite solemn-like and eerie to travel through the woods by wather.”

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bizarre
• creepy
• eldritch
• fantastic
• frightening
• ghostly
• mysterious
• scary
• strange
• supernatural
• uncanny
• weird