PECULIAR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does peculiar mean? 

• PECULIAR (adjective)
  The adjective PECULIAR has 4 senses:

1. beyond or deviating from the usual or expected

2. unique or specific to a person or thing or category

3. markedly different from the usual

4. characteristic of one only; distinctive or special

  Familiarity information: PECULIAR used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PECULIAR (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Beyond or deviating from the usual or expected

Synonyms:

curious; funny; odd; peculiar; queer; rum; rummy; singular

Context example:

singular behavior

Similar:

strange; unusual (being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird)

Derivation:

peculiarity (something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unique or specific to a person or thing or category

Synonyms:

particular; peculiar; special

Context example:

my own special chair

Similar:

specific ((sometimes followed by 'to') applying to or characterized by or distinguishing something particular or special or unique)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Markedly different from the usual

Context example:

a man...feels it a peculiar insult to be taunted with cowardice by a woman

Similar:

unusual (not usual or common or ordinary)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Characteristic of one only; distinctive or special

Context example:

the peculiar character of the Government of the U.S.

Similar:

characteristic (typical or distinctive)

Derivation:

peculiarity (a distinguishing trait)

 Context examples 

So have you, Trot, in some things, though I can't compliment you always”; and here my aunt shook her own at me, with an energy peculiar to herself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

About his body there was a peculiar springiness, or resiliency, almost catlike, and a quick alertness as of one who lived in perpetual fear of things seen and unseen.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He must be a very peculiar man!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"What in the world are those girls about now?" thought Laurie, opening his sleepy eyes to take a good look, for there was something rather peculiar in the appearance of his neighbors.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I think this is a peculiar case—I must at least examine into it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

That trick of staining the fishes’ scales of a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Located more than 12,000 light-years from Earth, the object first stood out as peculiar when it was observed at particular radio frequencies.

(NASA Team Probes Peculiar Age-Defying Star, NASA)

The analysis revealed WASP-18b’s peculiar fingerprint, which doesn’t resemble any exoplanet examined so far.

(WASP-18b Has Smothering Stratosphere Without Water, NASA)

The team explored several scenarios to explain the faster-than-predicted speed of this peculiar interstellar visitor.

(ESO’s VLT Sees `Oumuamua Getting a Boost, ESO)

A peculiar stagnant smell hung over the anchorage—a smell of sodden leaves and rotting tree trunks.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)