eerie
or ee·ry
[eer-ee]
- uncanny, so as to inspire superstitious fear; weird: an eerie midnight howl.
- Chiefly Scot. affected with superstitious fear.
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Origin of eerie
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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for eerie on Thesaurus.com1. See weird.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for eerie
Contemporary Examples
Yet the eerie echoing of the earlier faux interview in another major media outlet was unsettling for jazz lovers.
An examination of the eerie similarities between Litchfield Prison and Agrestic.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
Plus wearing gowns, gloves, goggles and masks imparts an eerie moonwalk sensation as one enters the facility.
The music is eerie and disturbing, and it is easy to imagine how revolutionary it sounded in 1983.
This, it should be said, bears an eerie similarity to the targeted, predatory lending of the last decade.
Historical Examples
Here is something before unknown to the eerie spirits of the woods.
The ForestStewart Edward White
The night sounds of the city hummed in eerie cadences in her ears.
HighacresJane Abbott
About her were all the eerie noises of the dark, the little, little sounds of little, little things.
Glory of YouthTemple Bailey
The moor was sounding loud and eerie with the call of large birds.
Gilian The DreamerNeil Munro
In this vast solitude there was something weird and eerie that shook her courage.
Oh, You Tex!William Macleod Raine
eerie
- (esp of places, an atmosphere, etc) mysteriously or uncannily frightening or disturbing; weird; ghostly
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Word Origin
C13: originally Scottish and Northern English, probably from Old English earg cowardly, miserable
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for eerie
adj.
c.1300, "fearful, timid," north England and Scottish variant of Old English earg "cowardly, fearful," from Proto-Germanic *argaz (cf. Old Frisian erg "evil, bad," Middle Dutch arch "bad," Dutch arg, Old High German arg "cowardly, worthless," German arg "bad, wicked," Old Norse argr "unmanly, voluptuous," Swedish arg "malicious").
Sense of "causing fear because of strangeness" is first attested 1792. Related: Eerily. Finnish arka "cowardly" is a Germanic loan-word.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper