curious

English

Pronunciation

Adjective

curious (comparative curiouser or more curious, superlative curiousest or most curious)

  1. (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.
  2. Inquisitive; tending to ask questions, investigate, or explore.
    Young children are naturally curious about the world and everything in it.
  3. 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 [...].
  4. unusual; odd; out of the ordinary; bizarre
    The platypus is a curious creature, with fur like a mammal and a beak like a bird.

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Last modified on 1 April 2013, at 06:16