eerie

or ee·ry

[eer-ee]

See more synonyms for eerie on Thesaurus.com

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.

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

Related formsee·ri·ly, adverbee·ri·ness, noun

Can be confusedaerie eerie Erie

Synonyms for eerie

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com

1. See weird.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for eerily

bizarrely, weirdly, grimly, fearfully, fantastically, monstrously, otherworldly, unusually

Examples from the Web for eerily

Contemporary Examples of eerily

The inauguration had to be held in the fortified Kremlin, surrounded by an eerily quiet city.
Behind Bars for the Holidays: 11 Political Prisoners We Want to See Free In 2015
Movements.Org
December 25, 2014
The house was eerily silent on a Friday morning after a huge party.
I Was Gang Raped at a UVA Frat 30 Years Ago, and No One Did Anything
Liz Seccuro
December 16, 2014
Each of the women had eerily similar stories that they offered to share on the stand.
The Bill Cosby Controversy Stages of Grief
Amy Zimmerman
November 18, 2014
You could not order a taxi; the streets of Juarish were eerily deserted.
Israel's Secret Honor Killings
Lipika Pelham
March 8, 2014
The video was filmed before the massive violence that convulsed Kiev this week, but its message is eerily prescient.
The Viral Heroine Of The Maidan
Deborah Stambler
February 21, 2014

Historical Examples of eerily

My humor enters into it, in no obvious way but eerily like a gay ghost.
I, Mary MacLane
Mary MacLane
Earthquakes are eerily quiet -- at first, anyway -- but this wasn't quiet.
Little Brother
Cory Doctorow
Really, this was all so eerily interesting that she almost forgot the pain of her bandaged ankle.
The Mystery of Jockey Hollow
Cleo Garis
The ship was eerily silent, dropping with a rising scream as the atmosphere touched the hull.
A World is Born
Leigh Douglass Brackett
They sounded like small working sounds, blending in eerily mysterious fashion with a chorus of small voices.
Houlihan's Equation
Walt Sheldon

British Dictionary definitions for eerily

eerie

adjective eerier or eeriest

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

Derived Formseerily, 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

Word Origin and History for eerily

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.