peculiar
English
Etymology
From Latin peculiaris (“one's own”), from Latin peculium (“private property”), from Latin pecus (“cattle”).[1]
Pronunciation
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Audio (US) (file)
Adjective
peculiar (comparative more peculiar, superlative most peculiar)
- Out of the ordinary; odd; curious; unusual.
- It's rather peculiar to see a Kangaroo outside of a zoo in America.
- 1800, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Deseret Weekly, Volume 41, page 379,
- I saw nothing peculiar in his conduct, and thought that his arrangement of the ballot box was perfect.
- 2001, Jack Schaefer, Wendell Minor, Shane,
- "Wasn't it peculiar," I heard mother say, "How he wouldn't talk about himself?"
- "Peculiar?" said father. "Well, yes, in a way."
- "Everything about him is peculiar." Mother sounded as if she was stirred up and interested. "I never saw a man quite like him before."
- 2008, Stephen Arnott, Peculiar Proverbs: Weird Words of Wisdom from Around the World.
- Common or usual for a certain place or circumstance; specific or particular.
- Kangaroos are peculiar to Australia.
- 1855, Immanuel Kant, John Miller Dow Meiklejohn (translator), Critique of Pure Reason, Volume 1, Division 2, per 1781, Immanuel Kant, Critik der reinen Vernunft,
- This philosopher found his ideas especially in all that is practical,[29] that is, which rests upon freedom, which in its turn ranks under cognitions that are the peculiar product of reason.
- 1863, Thomas Huxley, Collected Essays:
- As soon as that operation has taken place, the food is passed down to the stomach, and there it is mixed with the chemical fluid called the gastric juice, a substance which has the peculiar property of making soluble and dissolving out the nutritious matter in the grass, and leaving behind those parts which are not nutritious;
- 1895, Alfred Russel Wallace, Island Life, XX: Anomalous Islands: Celebes,
- But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene age have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of volcanoes; it is connected with the British Islands and with Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar, and at least three peculiar species of birds.
- Note: The author is here referring to Iceland.
- But of late years extensive Tertiary deposits of Miocene age have been discovered, showing that it is not a mere congeries of volcanoes; it is connected with the British Islands and with Greenland by seas less than 500 fathoms deep; and it possesses a few mammalia, one of which is peculiar, and at least three peculiar species of birds.
Synonyms
- (out of the ordinary): strange, uncommon, unusual
- (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance): specific
Antonyms
- (out of the ordinary): common, usual
- (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance): common, general, universal
Derived terms
Translations
out of the ordinary
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common or usual for a particular place or circumstance
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
Peculiar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
peculiar in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
References
- ^ Funk, W. J., Word origins and their romantic stories, New York, Wilfred Funk, Inc.