QUIRK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does quirk mean? 

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

1. a strange attitude or habit

2. a narrow groove beside a beading

  Familiarity information: QUIRK used as a noun is rare.

• QUIRK (verb)
  The verb QUIRK has 1 sense:

1. twist or curve abruptly

  Familiarity information: QUIRK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUIRK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A strange attitude or habit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

crotchet; oddity; queerness; quirk; quirkiness

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

strangeness; unfamiliarity (unusualness as a consequence of not being well known)

Derivation:

quirky ((informal) strikingly unconventional)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A narrow groove beside a beading

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

channel; groove (a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record))

• QUIRK (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Twist or curve abruptly

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

She quirked her head in a peculiar way

Hypernyms (to "quirk" is one way to...):

twist (turn in the opposite direction)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

The cosmic quirk that makes this star visible is a phenomenon called “gravitational lensing.”

(Hubble Uncovers the Farthest Star Ever Seen, NASA)

Higginbotham's grammar, Higginbotham's colloquialisms, Higginbotham's mental quirks and processes, were apparent throughout.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Don't stop to quirk your little finger and simper over your plate, Amy, cried Jo, choking on her tea and dropping her bread, butter side down, on the carpet in her haste to get at the treat.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

At times he shocked them with the vividness of the narrative and his terms of speech, but beauty always followed fast upon the heels of violence, and tragedy was relieved by humor, by interpretations of the strange twists and quirks of sailors' minds.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But through a quirk of nature that tremendously amplifies the star’s feeble glow, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope were able to pinpoint this faraway star and set a new distance record.

(Hubble Uncovers the Farthest Star Ever Seen, NASA)