Nearby Words

weird

[weerd] Example Sentences Origin

weird

[weerd] adjective, -er, -est, noun
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).

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Weird is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

Origin:
before 900; (noun) Middle English (northern form of wird), Old English wyrd; akin to worth2; (adj.) Middle English, orig. attributive noun in phrase werde sisters the Fates (popularized as appellation of the witches in Macbeth)

weird·ly, adverb
weird·ness, noun


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.


1. natural.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To weird
Example Sentences
  • All of these weird plants have adaptations that help them survive.
  • Now it's fashionable to grow a beard and wear weird clothes and say you're a hippie.
  • His work is weird, all right, but the best kind of weird — the kind that welcomes you in.
Collins
World English Dictionary
weird (wɪəd)
 
adj
1.  suggestive of or relating to the supernatural; eerie
2.  strange or bizarre
3.  archaic of or relating to fate or the Fates
 
n
4.  archaic chiefly (Scot)
 a.  fate or destiny
 b.  one of the Fates
5.  (Scot) dree one's weird See dree
 
vb
6.  (Scot) (tr) to destine or ordain by fate; predict
 
[Old English (ge)wyrd destiny; related to weorthan to become, Old Norse urthr bane, Old Saxon wurd; see worth²]
 
'weirdly
 
adv
 
'weirdness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

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
EXPAND
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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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