quirk
- a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism: He is full of strange quirks.
- a shift, subterfuge, or evasion; quibble.
- a sudden twist or turn: He lost his money by a quirk of fate.
- a flourish or showy stroke, as in writing.
- Architecture.
- an acute angle or channel, as one dividing two parts of a molding or one dividing a flush bead from the adjoining surfaces.
- an area taken from a larger area, as a room or a plot of ground.
- an enclosure for this area.
- Obsolete. a clever or witty remark; quip.
- formed with a quirk or channel, as a molding.
Origin of quirk
Synonyms for quirk
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for quirk
twist, vagary, habit, trait, aberration, kink, characteristic, peculiarity, mannerism, idiosyncrasy, eccentricity, foible, whim, humor, crotchet, conceit, whimsy, fancy, caprice, turnExamples from the Web for quirk
Contemporary Examples of quirk
And that luxury may be a quirk of America, or at least white America.
Kevin Fallon on the quirk of history that demands two swearing-in ceremonies for this particular president.
As a tempting virgin she was able to live long enough to be saved, but this was the quirk of a market controlled by foreigners.
A quirk in two political-prediction markets has created a (practically) no-lose investment opportunity—almost $100, for free.
Banville seemed to be running on empty with that book, but Quirk has energized him (four Quirke novels since 2006).
Historical Examples of quirk
There was the quirk in her brain; we all have a quirk somewhere, and that was hers.
I've thought of every possibility, every possible crook and quirk of this business.
No ClueJames Hay
Prove that, Mr. Quirk, and you need trouble yourself no more!
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)Samuel Warren
I've had very little to do with them; Quirk, Gammon, and Snap—these are the people, eh?
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)Samuel Warren
Through his thoughts a quirk of memory ran like a tongue of flame.
CythereaJoseph Hergesheimer
quirk
- an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible
- an unexpected twist or turna quirk of fate
- a continuous groove in an architectural moulding
- a flourish, as in handwriting
Word Origin for quirk
Word Origin and History for quirk
1560s, "quibble, evasion," of unknown origin, perhaps connected to German quer (see queer (adj.)) via notion of twisting and slanting; but its earliest appearance in western England dialect seems to argue against this source. Perhaps originally a technical term for a twist or flourish in weaving. Sense of "peculiarity" is c.1600.