weird

B1
US /ˈwiɚd/ UK /ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/
adj noun Freq #713

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.

    There are lots of weird people in this place.

  2. 2
    adj

    Deviating from the normal; bizarre.

    It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.

  3. 3
    adj

    Relating to weird fiction ("a macabre subgenre of speculative fiction").

    a weird story

  4. 4
    adj

    Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.

    Whiles I ſtood rapt in the wonder of it, came Miſſiues from the King, who all-hail'd me Thane of Cawdor, by which Title before, these weyward Sisters saluted me, and referr'd me to the comming on of time, with haile, King that ſhalt be.

  5. 5
    adj

    Having supernatural or preternatural power.

    There was a weird light shining above the hill.

  6. 6
    noun

    Fate; destiny; luck.

    Step by reluctant step, he had come to know his weird. The North must be saved from her.

  7. 7
    noun

    A spell or charm.

    Thou shalt bear thy penance lone, / In the Valley of Saint John, / And this weird shall overtake thee;— / Sleep, until a knight shall wake thee, / For feat of arms as far renowned / As warrior of the Table Round.

  8. 8
    noun

    Weirdness.

    You know why it feels so good to be amongst real friends? They allow you to be your weird and love you for it. Imagine how it would feel to freely let your weird out and have the world love you for it.

Etymology

From Middle English werde, wierde, wirde, wyrede, wurde, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurdi, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with Icelandic urður (“fate”). Related to Old English weorþan (“to become”). Doublet of wyrd. More at worth. Obsolete by the 16th century in English, but reintroduced from Middle Scots weird, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters (originally Weyward Sisters, the Three Witches), reintroducing it to English. The senses “abnormal”, “strange” etc. arose via reinterpretat…

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Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · having an unusually strange... 5150apeshitbananasbarkingbarking madbarmybat-shitbatchybatcrapbatpoopbatsbatshit
2 adj · deviating from the normal;... aberrantabnormalalienanomalousas queer as dick's hatbandbizarrebookycuriousdeviantdiscrepanteerieeldritch
4 adj · of or pertaining to witches... magicianlikemagicianlymagicianyweirdwitchishwitchlikewitchlywitchywizardlikewizardlywizardy
5 adj · having supernatural or... eeriespookyuncanny
6 noun · fate; destiny; luck. chancedestindestinydoomfatalityfateforedoomforeordinationfortunekismetlotorlay
7 noun · a spell or charm. enchantment
Word family
Derived forms weird-assweirdenweirdieweirdingweirdistweirdlessweirdlyweirdnessweirdoweirdsome

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