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

Science fiction bursts at the seams with bizarre extinction scenarios, usually delivered from space, like the one that precipitates Carol’s irritating life turn.

Read more on Salon

Restaurant staff have chronicled her bizarre behaviours on social media, and in local news stories, over the past several weeks.

Read more on BBC

Late in the album, the typically hushed “I Love You” tries something new, closing out with dramatic and bizarrely distorted percussion.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It’s so bizarre and specific, it seems true.

Read more on MarketWatch

Rival factions formed within the group, with battles for control culminating in the bizarre spectacle of DOGE’s top operational lead being fired and refusing to leave.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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