weird definition
Overview
This page has 23 definitions of weird in English, French, and Scots. Weird is an adjective, noun, verb and adverb. Examples of how to use weird in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .
English weird definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English werde, wierde, wirde, wyrede, wurde, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurdi, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with Icelandic urður (“fate”). Related to Old English weorþan (“to become”). Doublet of wyrd. More at worth.
Weird was extinct by the 16th century in English. It survived in Scots, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters, reintroducing it to English. The senses "abnormal", "strange" etc. arose via reinterpretation of Weird Sisters and date from after this reintroduction.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/, /ˈwiːə(ɹ)d/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈwiɚd/, /ˈwɪɚd/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)d
Adjective
weird (comparative weirder, superlative weirdest)
- Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.
- There are lots of weird people in this place.
- Deviating from the normal; bizarre.
- It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.
- (archaic) Of or pertaining to the Fates.
- (Can we find and add a quotation to this entry?)
- (archaic) Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
- (archaic) Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.
- 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, OCLC 12526426, (please specify either |part=I or II):
- Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.
- c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v]:
- Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed me, 'Thane of Cawdor'; by which title, before, these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time, with 'Hail, king that shalt be!'
- 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
- It may be in that dark hour at the burn-foot, before the spate caught her, she had been given grace to resist her adversary and fling herself upon God's mercy. And it would seem that it had been granted; for when he came to the Skerburnfoot, there in the corner sat the weird wife Alison, dead as a stone.
- 1912, Victor Whitechurch, Thrilling Stories of the Railway
- Naphtha lamps shed a weird light over a busy scene, for the work was being continued night and day. A score or so of sturdy navvies were shovelling and picking along the track.
- (archaic) Having supernatural or preternatural power.
- There was a weird light shining above the hill.
Synonyms
- (having supernatural or preternatural power): eerie, spooky, uncanny
- (unusually strange in character or behaviour): odd, oddball, peculiar, strange, wacko; see also Thesaurus:insane
- (deviating from the normal): bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, strange; see also Thesaurus:strange
- (of or pertaining to the Fates): fateful
Derived terms
Translations
having supernatural or preternatural power
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having an unusually strange character or behaviour
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deviating from the normal; bizarre
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Noun
weird (plural weirds)
- (archaic) Fate; destiny; luck.
- 1965, Poul Anderson, The Corridors of Time, page 226:
- Step by reluctant step, he had come to know his weird. The North must be saved from her.
- A prediction.
- (obsolete, Scotland) A spell or charm.
- 1813, Walter Scott, The Bridal of Triermain
- Thou shalt bear thy penance lone
In the Valley of Saint John,
And this weird shall overtake thee
- Thou shalt bear thy penance lone
- 1813, Walter Scott, The Bridal of Triermain
- That which comes to pass; a fact.
- (archaic, in the plural) The Fates (personified).
- (informal) weirdness
- 2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 33:
- You know why it feels so good to be amongst real friends? They allow you to be your weird and love you for it. Imagine how it would feel to freely let your weird out and have the world love you for it.
Synonyms
- (fate; destiny): kismet, lot, orlay, wyrd
- (luck): fortune, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck
- (prediction): foretale, foretelling, prognostication; see also Thesaurus:prediction
- (spell or charm): enchantment, incantation, cantrip
- (fact):
- (The Fates): The Norns
Derived terms
Verb
weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirding, simple past and past participle weirded)
- (transitive) To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
- (transitive) To warn solemnly; adjure.
Adverb
weird (not comparable)
- (nonstandard) In a strange manner. [from 1970s]
Usage notes
As an adverb, weird is only used to modify verbs, and is always positioned after the verb it modifies. Unlike weirdly it cannot modify an adjective (as in "She was weirdly generous.") or an entire sentence (as in "Weirdly, no-one spoke up.").
Synonyms
Anagrams
French weird definition
Etymology
Pronunciation
Adjective
weird (plural weirds)
Scots weird definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English wyrd (“fate, destiny”), from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz.
Pronunciation
Noun
weird (plural weirds)
- fate, fortune, destiny, one's own particular fate or appointed lot
- event destined to happen, a god's decree, omen, prophecy, prediction
- wizard, warlock, one having deep or supernatural skill or knowledge
Derived terms
Adjective
weird (comparative mair weird, superlative maist weird)
Verb
weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirdin, simple past weirdit, past participle weirdit)