WEIRD

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Weird mean? 

• WEIRD (noun)
  The noun WEIRD has 1 sense:

1. fate personified; any one of the three Weird Sisters

  Familiarity information: WEIRD used as a noun is very rare.

• WEIRD (adjective)
  The adjective WEIRD has 2 senses:

1. suggesting the operation of supernatural influences

2. strikingly odd or unusual

  Familiarity information: WEIRD used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WEIRD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fate personified; any one of the three Weird Sisters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Weird; Wyrd

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

Anglo-Saxon deity ((Anglo-Saxon mythology) a deity worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons)

• WEIRD (adjective)

Comparative: weirder   
Superlative: weirdest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suggesting the operation of supernatural influences

Synonyms:

eldritch; uncanny; unearthly; weird

Context example:

he could hear the unearthly scream of some curlew piercing the din

Similar:

supernatural (not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material)

Derivation:

weirdness (strikingly out of the ordinary)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Strikingly odd or unusual

Context example:

some trick of the moonlight; some weird effect of shadow

Similar:

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

Derivation:

weirdness (strikingly out of the ordinary)

 Context examples 

It seems weird to ask you to do something I have never been able to master.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I feared for my dear Madam Mina when these weird figures drew near and circled round.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It's also home to weird animals that scientists are only just getting to know.

(Giant group of octopus moms discovered in the deep sea, National Science Foundation)

It was a weird place in itself, but its occupants made it seem like a scene from the Seven Circles of Dante.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"We may start seeing a new object every year. That’s when we’ll start to know whether 'Oumuamua is weird, or common."

('Oumuamua interstellar object was not an alien spacecraft, National Science Foundation)

He was, indeed, a weird figure as he turned his white mane and his glowing eyes towards us.

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

His nerves had become blunted, numb, while his mind was filled with weird visions and delicious dreams.

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

The Herschel Space Observatory has uncovered a weird ring of dusty material while obtaining one of the sharpest scans to date of a huge cloud of gas and dust, called NGC 7538.

(Herschel sees budding stars and a giant, strange ring, NASA)

The torn bird, the pail of blood, the charred bones, all the mystery of that weird kitchen?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In fact, the star is so weird that astronomers have nicknamed it "Nasty 1," a play on its catalogue name of NaSt1.

(Hubble Observes One-of-a-Kind Star Nicknamed 'Nasty', NASA)