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curious - 4 dictionary results

cu⋅ri⋅ous

  [kyoor-ee-uhs]
Use curious in a Sentence
–adjective
1. eager to learn or know; inquisitive.
2. prying; meddlesome.
3. arousing or exciting speculation, interest, or attention through being inexplicable or highly unusual; odd; strange: a curious sort of person; a curious scene.
4. Archaic.
a. made or prepared skillfully.
b. done with painstaking accuracy or attention to detail: a curious inquiry.
c. careful; fastidious.
d. marked by intricacy or subtlety.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME < L cūriōsus careful, inquisitive, equiv. to cūri- (comb. form of cūra care) + -ōsus -ous. See cure

Related forms:
cu⋅ri⋅ous⋅ly, adverb
cu⋅ri⋅ous⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. inquiring, interested. 2. spying, peeping. Curious, inquisitive, meddlesome, prying refer to taking an undue (and petty) interest in others' affairs. Curious implies a desire to know what is not properly one's concern: curious about a neighbor's habits. Inquisitive implies asking impertinent questions in an effort to satisfy curiosity: inquisitive about a neighbor's habits. Meddlesome implies thrusting oneself into and taking an active part in other people's affairs entirely unasked and unwelcomed: a meddlesome cousin who tries to run the affairs of a family. Prying implies a meddlesome and persistent inquiring into others' affairs: a prying reporter inquiring into the secrets of a business firm. 3. singular, novel, rare.

Antonyms:
1, 2. indifferent.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To curious
cu·ri·ous   (kyŏŏr'ē-əs)   
adj.  
  1. Eager to learn more: curious investigators; a trapdoor that made me curious.
  2. Unduly inquisitive; prying.
  3. Arousing interest because of novelty or strangeness: a curious fact.
  4. Archaic
    1. Accomplished with skill or ingenuity.
    2. Extremely careful; scrupulous.

[Middle English, from Old French curios, from Latin cūriōsus, careful, inquisitive, from cūra, care; see cure.]
cu'ri·ous·ly adv., cu'ri·ous·ness n.
Synonyms: These adjectives apply to persons who show a marked desire for information or knowledge. Curious most often implies an avid desire to know or learn, though it can suggest prying: A curious child is a teacher's delight. A curious neighbor can be a nuisance.
Inquisitive frequently suggests excessive curiosity and the asking of many questions: "Remember, no revolvers. The police are, I believe, proverbially inquisitive" (Lord Dunsany).
Snoopy suggests underhanded prying: The snoopy hotel detective spied on guests in the lobby.
Nosy implies impertinent curiosity likened to that of an animal using its nose to examine or probe: My nosy colleague went through my mail. See Also Synonyms at strange.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.]

Little curious in her clothes. --Fuller.

How shall we, If he be curious, work upon his faith? --Beau. & Fl.

2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.

To devise curious works. --Ex. xxxv. 32

His body couched in a curious bed. --Shak.

3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; -- sometimes with after or of.

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.

4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise; inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or plain; strange; rare. "Acurious tale" --Shak.

A multitude of curious analogies. --Macaulay.

Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. --E. A. Poe.

Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of learning or sciense often bring to light curious results. --C. J. Smith.

Curious arts, magic. [Obs.]

Many . . . which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them. --Acts xix. 19.

Syn: Inquisitive; prying. See Inquisitive.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : curious
Spanish: curioso; extraño, raro,
German: seltsam,
Japanese: 奇妙な
More Translations »

curious 
c.1340, "eager to know" (often in a bad sense), from L. curiosus "careful, diligent, curious," akin to cura "care." The objective sense of "exciting curiosity" is 1715. In booksellers' catalogues, the word means "erotic, pornographic." Curiosity is c.1378; in sense of "object of interest," 1645. Curiouser and curiouser is from "Alice in Wonderland" (1865).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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