curious
[kyoo r-ee-uh s]
- eager to learn or know; inquisitive.
- prying; meddlesome.
- arousing or exciting speculation, interest, or attention through being inexplicable or highly unusual; odd; strange: a curious sort of person; a curious scene.
- Archaic.
- made or prepared skillfully.
- done with painstaking accuracy or attention to detail: a curious inquiry.
- careful; fastidious.
- marked by intricacy or subtlety.
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Origin of curious
Synonyms
See more synonyms for curious on Thesaurus.com1. inquiring, interested. 2. spying, peeping. 3. singular, novel, rare.
Synonym study
2. Curious, inquisitive, meddlesome, prying refer to taking an undue (and petty) interest in others' affairs. Curious implies a desire to know what is not properly one's concern: curious about a neighbor's habits. Inquisitive implies asking impertinent questions in an effort to satisfy curiosity: inquisitive about a neighbor's habits. Meddlesome implies thrusting oneself into and taking an active part in other people's affairs entirely unasked and unwelcomed: a meddlesome cousin who tries to run the affairs of a family. Prying implies a meddlesome and persistent inquiring into others' affairs: a prying reporter inquiring into the secrets of a business firm.
Antonyms
1, 2. indifferent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for curious
Contemporary Examples
Even other men of color considered Revels a curious figure, for Mississippi had never had a large free black population.
As I got better, I also got curious about what happened to other patients like me.
I had, for a long time, been curious about the place where all this fantastic stuff was made.
A Whisky Connoisseur Remembers That First Sip of The MacallanDecember 10, 2014
“They are very friendly and curious,” The Evening Independent wrote in 1979 in an item emphasizing their popularity and cuteness.
Lovable ‘Madagascar’ Penguins Are Known to Rape and Torture in Real LifeAsawin Suebsaeng
November 26, 2014
And there is this curious connection as well: Leila and Temur have the same daughter-in-law.
Historical Examples
He left her studying the card with a curious little flash of surprise.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
It is curious to note the extent to which the unexpected has come about.
'Tis Sixty Years SinceCharles Francis Adams
They were as yet quite ignorant but thanks to a happy Fate they were curious.
Ancient ManHendrik Willem van Loon
She went about looking at things, curious, touching them softly as if they were sacred.
Life and Death of Harriett FreanMay Sinclair
At any rate the marshal smiled, and a curious flush came in Andrew's face.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
curious
- eager to learn; inquisitive
- overinquisitive; prying
- interesting because of oddness or novelty; strange; unexpected
- rare (of workmanship, etc) highly detailed, intricate, or subtle
- obsolete fastidious or hard to please
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin cūriōsus taking pains over something, from cūra care
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
Word Origin and History for curious
adj.
mid-14c., "eager to know" (often in a bad sense), from Old French curios "solicitous, anxious, inquisitive; odd, strange" (Modern French curieux) and directly from Latin curiosus "careful, diligent; inquiring eagerly, meddlesome," akin to cura "care" (see cure (n.)). The objective sense of "exciting curiosity" is 1715 in English. In booksellers' catalogues, the word means "erotic, pornographic." Curiouser and curiouser is from "Alice in Wonderland" (1865).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper