Curious

Curious
Curious Cu"ri*ous (k?"r?-?s), a. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See {Cure}.] 1. Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Little curious in her clothes. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]

How shall we, If he be curious, work upon his faith? --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]

2. Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill. [1913 Webster]

To devise curious works. --Ex. xxxv. 32 [1913 Webster]

His body couched in a curious bed. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

3. Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; -- sometimes with after or of. [1913 Webster]

It is a pity a gentleman so very curious after things that were elegant and beautiful should not have been as curious as to their origin, their uses, and their natural history. --Woodward. [1913 Webster]

4. Exciting attention or inquiry; awakening surprise; inviting and rewarding inquisitiveness; not simple or plain; strange; rare. ``Acurious tale'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]

A multitude of curious analogies. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]

Many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. --E. A. Poe. [1913 Webster]

Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of learning or sciense often bring to light curious results. --C. J. Smith. [1913 Webster]

{Curious arts}, magic. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Many . . . which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them. --Acts xix. 19.

Syn: Inquisitive; prying. See {Inquisitive}. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • curious — 1 Curious, inquisitive, prying, snoopy, nosy are comparable when meaning interested in finding out or in a search for facts that are not one s personal concern. Curious need not imply objectionable qualities such as intrusiveness or impertinence …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • curious — [kyoor′ē əs] adj. sometimes compar.curiouser: often in allusion to Lewis Carroll s Alice s Adventures in Wonderland [ME < OFr curios < L curiosus, careful, diligent, curious; akin to cura, care: see CURE] 1. eager to learn or know 2.… …   English World dictionary

  • curious — [adj1] desiring knowledge, understanding analytical, disquisitive, examining, impertinent, inquiring, inquisitive, inspecting, interested, interfering, intrusive, investigative, meddlesome, meddling, nosy, peeping, peering, prurient, prying,… …   New thesaurus

  • curious — index eccentric, extraordinary, inquisitive, noteworthy, prodigious (amazing), rare, remarkable, u …   Law dictionary

  • curious — (adj.) mid 14c., eager to know (often in a bad sense), from O.Fr. curios solicitous, anxious, inquisitive; odd, strange (Mod.Fr. curieux) and directly from L. curiosus careful, diligent; inquiring eagerly, meddlesome, akin to cura care (see CURE… …   Etymology dictionary

  • curious — ► ADJECTIVE 1) eager to know or learn something. 2) strange; unusual. DERIVATIVES curiously adverb. ORIGIN Latin curiosus careful , from cura care …   English terms dictionary

  • curious — cu|ri|ous [ kjuriəs ] adjective ** 1. ) someone who is curious wants to find out about something: I didn t mean to pry. I m just curious. That s all. curious about: Children are curious about animals and how they live. curious to see/hear/know… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • curious */*/ — UK [ˈkjʊərɪəs] / US [ˈkjʊrɪəs] adjective 1) a) someone who is curious wants to find out about something I didn t mean to pry. I m just curious. That s all. curious about: Children are curious about animals and how they live. curious to… …   English dictionary

  • curious — adj. eager to know 1) curious about (curious about smb. s past) 2) curious to + inf. (I would be curious to know what really happened) odd 3) curious that + clause (it is curious that she didn t remember the incident) * * * [ kjʊ(ə)rɪəs] curious… …   Combinatory dictionary

  • curious — adj. 1 eager to find out about sb/sth VERBS ▪ be, feel, seem ▪ became, get, grow ▪ remain ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

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