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eerie

or ee·ry

[ eer-ee ]
/ ˈɪər i /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR eerie

adjective, ee·ri·er, ee·ri·est.

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

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”

synonym study for eerie

1. See weird.

OTHER WORDS FROM eerie

ee·ri·ly, adverbee·ri·ness, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH eerie

aerie, eerie

Words nearby eerie

EENT, EEO, EEOC, eephus pitch, e'er, eerie, eery, ef-, EFA, Efate, efavirenz
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to eerie

scary, fantastic, awesome, creepy, strange, supernatural, uncanny, ghostly, mysterious, bizarre, frightening, weird, fearful, spectral, superstitious, unearthly, crawly

Example sentences from the Web for eerie

British Dictionary definitions for eerie

eerie
/ (ˈɪərɪ) /

adjective eerier or eeriest

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

Derived forms of eerie

eerily, adverbeeriness, noun

Word Origin for eerie

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012