curious

curious
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 (Cf. cure) (n.)). The objective sense of "exciting curiosity" is 1715 in English. In booksellers' catalogues, the word means "erotic, pornographic." Curiouser and curiouser is from "Alice in Wonderland" (1865).

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 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 — ► 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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