1.
[syn: curious, funny, odd, peculiar, queer, rum, rummy, singular]
2. eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes about others'; concerns);
- Example: "a curious child is a teacher's delight"
- Example: "a trap door that made me curious"
- Example: "curious investigators"
- Example: "traffic was slowed by curious rubberneckers"
- Example: "curious about the neighbor's doings"
3. having curiosity aroused; eagerly interested in learning more;
- Example: "a trap door that made me curious"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Curious \Cu"ri*ous\ (k?"r?-?s), a. [OF. curios, curius, F.
curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See
Cure.]
1. Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct;
careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Little curious in her clothes. --Fuller.
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How shall we,
If he be curious, work upon his faith? --Beau. & Fl.
[1913 Webster]
2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed;
elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
[1913 Webster]
To devise curious works. --Ex. xxxv. 32
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His body couched in a curious bed. --Shak.
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3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to
research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; --
sometimes with after or of.
[1913 Webster]
It is a pity a gentleman so very curious after
things that were elegant and beautiful should not
have been as curious as to their origin, their uses,
and their natural history. --Woodward.
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4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise;
inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or
plain; strange; rare. "Acurious tale" --Shak.
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A multitude of curious analogies. --Macaulay.
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Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.
--E. A. Poe.
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Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of
learning or sciense often bring to light curious
results. --C. J. Smith.
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Curious arts, magic. [Obs.]
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Many . . . which used curious arts brought their
books together, and burned them. --Acts xix.
19.
Syn: Inquisitive; prying. See Inquisitive.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
curious
adj 1: beyond or deviating from the usual or expected; "a
curious hybrid accent"; "her speech has a funny twang";
"they have some funny ideas about war"; "had an odd
name"; "the peculiar aromatic odor of cloves"; "something
definitely queer about this town"; "what a rum fellow";
"singular behavior" [syn: curious, funny, odd,
peculiar, queer, rum, rummy, singular]
2: eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes about
others' concerns); "a curious child is a teacher's delight";
"a trap door that made me curious"; "curious investigators";
"traffic was slowed by curious rubberneckers"; "curious about
the neighbor's doings" [ant: incurious]
3: having curiosity aroused; eagerly interested in learning
more; "a trap door that made me curious"