Synonyms

eerie

American

[eer-ee] / ˈɪər i /

Or eery

adjective

eerier, eeriest

uncanny, so as to inspire superstitious fear; weird

an eerie midnight howl.
Chiefly Scot. affected with superstitious fear.

eerie British

/ ˈɪərɪ /

adjective

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

"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

Related Words

See weird.

Other Word Forms

eerily adverb
eeriness noun

Etymology

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”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

What happened next had an eerie feeling of familiarity about it.

From Slate • Mar. 29, 2026

"It had a cold, dark, eerie feeling in there," Davies said.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

Legos were used to send a warning to Ukrainians as the country was launching a new recruitment drive—to eerie effect.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

The eerie male voice then read a seemingly random string of numbers.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026

She glanced at the TV, then added with an eerie certainty, “After the hurricane, there won’t be school for a long time.”

From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023