Weird
Adjective
Pronunciation
\WEERD\
Definition
1 - of or relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the
supernatural : magical
2 - of strange or extraordinary character : odd, fantastic
Examples
"Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate
surroundings by a repetition of the weird moan from the depths of the
cave." — Edgar Rice Burroughs, A
Princess of Mars, 1917
"And yes, I know it's all in my head. But my head is a
weird, wonderful place that does a lot of things I wish it wouldn't." —
Erin Stewart, The Deseret Morning News (Salt
Lake City), 20 Jan. 2016
Did You Know?
You may know today's word as a generalized term describing
something unusual, but weird also has older meanings that are more specific.
Weird derives from the Old English noun wyrd, essentially meaning
"fate." By the 8th century, the plural wyrde had begun to appear in
texts as a gloss for Parcae, the Latin name for the Fates—three goddesses who
spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. In the 15th and 16th centuries,
Scots authors employed werd or weird in the phrase "weird sisters" to
refer to the Fates. William Shakespeare adopted this usage in Macbeth, in which
the "weird sisters" are depicted as three witches. Subsequent
adjectival use of weird grew out of a reinterpretation of the weird used by
Shakespeare.
Name That Synonym
Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of weird: e _ dr _ t
_ h.
Merriam-Webster
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