Curious
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈkjʊəɹiəs/
- Rhymes: -ʊəɹiəs
Origin
From Old French curios, from Latin curiosus.
Full definition of curious
Adjective
curious
- (obsolete) Fastidious, particular; demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
- 1612, John Smith, Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, p. 172:But departing thence, when we found no houses, we were not curious in any weather, to lie 3 or 4 nights together upon any shore under the trees by a good fire.
- Fullerlittle curious in her clothes
- Inquisitive; tending to ask questions, investigate, or explore.Young children are naturally curious about the world and everything in it.
- Prompted by curiosity.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ix:But he to shift their curious request,
Gan causen, why she could not come in place .... - Unusual; odd; out of the ordinary; bizarre.The platypus is a curious creature, with fur like a mammal and a beak like a bird.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
- (archaic) Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
- Bible, Exodus xxxv. 32to devise curious works
- Shakespearehis body couched in a curious bed