bizarre

[bih-zahr]

adjective

1. markedly unusual in appearance, style, or general character and often involving incongruous or unexpected elements; outrageously or whimsically strange; odd.

   bizarre clothing; bizarre behavior.

   Synonyms: odd, strange, unusual, fantastic, grotesque, freakish, weird

bizarre

/ bɪˈzɑː /

adjective

1. odd or unusual, esp in an interesting or amusing way

Other Word Forms

• bizarrely adverb
• bizarreness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bizarre¹

First recorded in 1640–50; from French: “strange, odd,” from Italian bizzarro “quick to anger, choleric,” then “capricious,” then “strange, weird”; further origin disputed

Word History and Origins

Origin of bizarre¹

C17: from French: from Italian bizzarro capricious, of uncertain origin

Synonym Study

Bizarre, fantastic, grotesque, weird share a sense of deviation from what is normal or expected. Bizarre means markedly unusual or extraordinarily strange, sometimes whimsically so: bizarre costumes for Mardi Gras; bizarre behavior. Fantastic suggests a wild lack of restraint, a fancifulness so extreme as to lose touch with reality: a fantastic scheme for a series of space cities. In informal use, fantastic often means simply “exceptionally good”: a fantastic meal. Grotesque implies shocking distortion or incongruity, sometimes ludicrous, more often pitiful or tragic: a grotesque mixture of human and animal features; grotesque contrast between the forced smile and sad eyes: a gnarled tree suggesting the figure of a grotesque human being. Weird refers to that which is mysterious and apparently outside natural law, hence supernatural or uncanny: the weird adventures of a group lost in the jungle; a weird and ghostly apparition. Informally, weird means “very strange”: weird and wacky costumes; weird sense of humor.

Example Sentences

It was a bizarre performance from South Africa on a pitch that offered a little assistance to the spinners, but far from anything extravagant, as they simply had no answers to England's consistency.

From BBC

In the clip, he dons prosthetics, a wig, an altered voice and a bizarre personality to pull off the hijinks.

From Los Angeles Times

The bizarre prosthetics and silly voice make it hard to take Chad quite as seriously as the series would like us to.

From Los Angeles Times

The bizarrely calm message from the hackers came later that evening.

From BBC

“Your criticizing the Secretary’s visit to the Pier is bizarre as she works to fix this issue for more than 1 million visitors that used to visit the pier,” McLaughlin added.

From Salon

Related Words

• comical 
• curious 
• extraordinary 
• fantastic 
• freakish 
• grotesque 
• ludicrous 
• odd 
• offbeat 
• outlandish 
• peculiar 
• ridiculous 
• unusual 
• weird