CURIOUSNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does curiousness mean? 

• CURIOUSNESS (noun)
  The noun CURIOUSNESS has 2 senses:

1. a state of active curiosity

2. the quality of being alien or not native

  Familiarity information: CURIOUSNESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CURIOUSNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of active curiosity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

curiousness; inquisitiveness

Hypernyms ("curiousness" is a kind of...):

curiosity; wonder (a state in which you want to learn more about something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curiousness"):

nosiness; prying; snoopiness (offensive inquisitiveness)

Derivation:

curious (eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes about others' concerns))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being alien or not native

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

curiousness; foreignness; strangeness

Context example:

the strangeness of a foreigner

Hypernyms ("curiousness" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Attribute:

foreign; strange (relating to or originating in or characteristic of another place or part of the world)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curiousness"):

exoticism; exoticness; exotism (the quality of being exotic)

alienage; alienism (the quality of being alien)

Derivation:

curious (beyond or deviating from the usual or expected)

 Context examples 

At the sound of his voice the woman peered at him with quick curiousness.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He lay down in the snow, depositing the ptarmigan beside him, and with eyes peering through the needles of a low-growing spruce he watched the play of life before him—the waiting lynx and the waiting porcupine, each intent on life; and, such was the curiousness of the game, the way of life for one lay in the eating of the other, and the way of life for the other lay in being not eaten.

(White Fang, by Jack London)