Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A desire to know or learn.
- noun A desire to know about people or things that do not concern one; nosiness.
- noun An object that arouses interest, as by being novel or extraordinary.
- noun A strange or odd aspect.
- noun Archaic Fastidiousness.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Carefulness; nicety; delicacy; fastidiousness; scrupulous care.
- noun Accuracy; exactness; nice performance.
- noun Curious arrangement; singular or artful performance.
- noun Extravagantly minute investigation.
- noun Fancifulness; extravagance; a curious or fanciful subject.
- noun The desire to see or learn something that is new, strange, or unknown; inquisitiveness.
- noun An object of interest or inquisitiveness; that which excites a desire of seeing or deserves to be seen, as novel or extraordinary; something rare or strange.
- noun Synonyms. Phenomenon, marvel, wonder, sight, rarity.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration.
- noun Disposition to inquire, investigate, or seek after knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest; inquisitiveness.
- noun That which is curious, or fitted to excite or reward attention.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting
- noun a state in which you want to learn more about something
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In turning now more particularly to the work, or rather compilation, of Dr. Bisset Hawkins, let us see whether we cannot discover among what he terms "marks of haste" in getting it up for "the curiosity of the public" (_curiosity_, Dr. Hawkins!), some omissions of a very important nature on the subject of a disease respecting which, we presume, he wished to enlighten the public.
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The word curiosity is related to the words cure, care, careful, and accuracy.
Egonomics David Marcum 2007
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In a quarter-page interview in Business 2.0, Diller mentions the word curiosity six times, and at his first mention of the word he ties the effectiveness of curiosity to the fusion of openness and order—trait curiosity.
Egonomics David Marcum 2007
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But Washington was prompted to ask: “Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as well?”
Washington Richard Harwell 1968
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But Washington was prompted to ask: “Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as well?”
Washington Richard Harwell 1968
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But Washington was prompted to ask: “Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as well?”
Washington Richard Harwell 1968
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But Washington was prompted to ask: “Pray, would not the word curiosity answer as well?”
Washington Richard Harwell 1968
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This is the true ground to assign for the genuine scientific passion, however manifested, and for culture, viewed simply as a fruit of this passion; and it is a worthy ground, even tho we let the term curiosity stand to describe it.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VI (of X)—Great Britain and Ireland IV Various 1885
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This is the true ground to assign for the genuine scientific passion, however manifested, and for culture, viewed simply as a fruit of this passion; and it is a worthy ground, even though we let the term curiosity stand to describe it.
Culture and Anarchy Matthew Arnold 1855
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This curiosity is the reason I found myself in the woods of northern Maryland, along with a couple hundred strangers, trying to make fire with sticks.
Primitive Instincts: Where modern man can learn to live like his ancestors Tom Bartlett 2010
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