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weird - 6 dictionary results

weird

  [weerd] adjective, -er, -est, noun
Use weird in a Sentence
–adjective
1. involving or suggesting the supernatural; unearthly or uncanny: a weird sound; weird lights.
2. fantastic; bizarre: a weird getup.
3. Archaic. concerned with or controlling fate or destiny.
–noun Chiefly Scot.
4. fate; destiny.
5. fate (def. 6).
Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME (northern form of wird), OE wyrd; akin to worth 2 ; (adj.) ME, orig. attributive n. in phrase werde sisters the Fates (popularized as appellation of the witches in Macbeth)

Related forms:
weirdly, adverb
weirdness, noun

Synonyms:
1. unnatural, preternatural. weird, eerie, unearthly, uncanny refer to that which is mysterious and apparently outside natural law. Weird refers to that which is suggestive of the fateful intervention of supernatural influences in human affairs: the weird adventures of a group lost in the jungle. Eerie refers to that which, by suggesting the ghostly, makes one's flesh creep: an eerie moaning from a deserted house. Unearthly refers to that which seems by its nature to belong to another world: an unearthly light that preceded the storm. Uncanny refers to that which is mysterious because of its apparent defiance of the laws established by experience: an uncanny ability to recall numbers.

Antonyms:
1. natural.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To weird
weird   (wîrd)   
adj.   weird·er, weird·est
  1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of the preternatural or supernatural.
  2. Of a strikingly odd or unusual character; strange.
  3. Archaic Of or relating to fate or the Fates.
n.  
    1. Fate; destiny.
    2. One's assigned lot or fortune, especially when evil.
  2. often Weird Greek & Roman Mythology One of the Fates.
tr. & intr.v.   weird·ed, weird·ing, weirds
Slang To experience or cause to experience an odd, unusual, and sometimes uneasy sensation. Often used with out.

[Middle English werde, fate, having power to control fate, from Old English wyrd, fate; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.]
weird'ly adv., weird'ness n.
Synonyms: These adjectives refer to what is of a mysteriously strange, usually frightening nature. Weird may suggest the operation of supernatural influences, or merely the odd or unusual: "The person of the house gave a weird little laugh" (Charles Dickens). "There is a weird power in a spoken word" (Joseph Conrad).
Something eerie inspires fear or uneasiness and implies a sinister influence: "At nightfall on the marshes, the thing was eerie and fantastic to behold" (Robert Louis Stevenson).
Uncanny refers to what is unnatural and peculiarly unsettling: "The queer stumps ... had uncanny shapes, as of monstrous creatures" (John Galsworthy).
Something unearthly seems so strange and unnatural as to come from or belong to another world: "He could hear the unearthly scream of some curlew piercing the din" (Henry Kingsley).
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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Weird

Weird\ (w[=e]rd), n. [OE. wirde, werde, AS. wyrd fate, fortune, one of the Fates, fr. weor[eth]an to be, to become; akin to OS. wurd fate, OHG. wurt, Icel. ur[eth]r. [root]143. See Worth to become.]

1. Fate; destiny; one of the Fates, or Norns; also, a prediction. [Obs. or Scot.]

2. A spell or charm. [Obs. or Scot.] --Sir W. Scott.

Weird

Weird\, a. 1. Of or pertaining to fate; concerned with destiny.

2. Of or pertaining to witchcraft; caused by, or suggesting, magical influence; supernatural; unearthly; wild; as, a weird appearance, look, sound, etc.

Myself too had weird seizures. --Tennyson.

Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation. --Longfellow.

Weird sisters, the Fates. [Scot.] --G. Douglas.

Note: Shakespeare uses the term for the three witches in Macbeth.

The weird sisters, hand in hand, Posters of the sea and land. --Shak.

Weird

Weird\, v. t. To foretell the fate of; to predict; to destine to. [Scot.] --Jamieson.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : weird
Spanish: extraño, raro,
German: seltsam,
Japanese: 奇妙な
More Translations »

weird 
O.E. wyrd "fate, destiny" (n.), lit. "that which comes," from P.Gmc. *wurthis (cf. O.S. wurd, O.H.G. wurt "fate," O.N. urðr "fate, one of the three Norns"), from PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," (cf. Ger. werden, O.E. weorðan "to become"), from base *wer- "to turn, bend" (see versus). For sense development from "turning" to "becoming," cf. phrase turn into "become." The modern sense of weird developed from M.E. use of weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (in Gmc. mythology), the goddesses who controlled human destiny. They were usually portrayed as odd or frightening in appearance, as in "Macbeth," which led to the adj. meaning "odd-looking, uncanny," first recorded 1815.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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