uncanny

un·can·ny

adjective \ˌən-ˈka-nē\

Definition of UNCANNY

1

a : seeming to have a supernatural character or origin : eerie, mysterious

b : being beyond what is normal or expected : suggesting superhuman or supernatural powers <an uncanny sense of direction>

2

chiefly Scottish : severe, punishing

— un·can·ni·ly \-ˈka-nə-lē\ adverb

— un·can·ni·ness \-ˈka-nē-nəs\ noun

Examples of UNCANNY

1. She had an uncanny resemblance to someone I had seen before.
2. She has an uncanny sense of direction.
3. an uncanny ability to predict the weather
4. I was struck by his uncanny ability to communicate arcane, complex economic policy and by his punk-rock instinct to question the status quo. —Bono, Time, 18 Apr. 2005
5. To an economist, the 1990s bear an uncanny resemblance to two earlier decades: the 1920s in the United States and the 1980s in Japan. In all three decades, technological change produced extraordinary economic growth, leading to talk of a “new era” and triggering a bull market in stocks that terminated in a market collapse—widely regarded as the bursting of a speculative bubble. —Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, 22 Jan. 2002
6. As he approached quite close to the enclosure he saw an excited group surrounding the two fugitives, who, trembling with fright and exhaustion, were scarce able to recount the uncanny details of their adventure. —Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, 1914
7. She could not teach herself to think favourably of Pansy, whose absence of initiative, of conversation, of personal claims, seemed to her, in a girl of twenty, unnatural and even uncanny. —Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, 1881

First Known Use of UNCANNY

1773

Related to UNCANNY

Synonyms

arcane, cryptic, deep, enigmatic (also enigmatical), impenetrable, inscrutable, mystic, occult, mysterious

Related Words

dark, darkling, fuzzy, murky, obscure, shadowy, vague; ambiguous, equivocal; imponderable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, unintelligible, unsearchable; inexplicable, unaccountable, unexplainable; unanswerable, unknowable; metaphysical, mystical, numinous, supernatural; abstruse, esoteric, recondite; baffling, befuddling, bewildering, confounding, confusing, disorienting, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling

Near Antonyms

fathomable, intelligible, understandable; apparent, clear, evident, manifest, obvious, open-and-shut, palpable, patent, perspicuous, plain, straightforward, transparent, unambiguous, unequivocal, unmistakable

See Synonym Discussion at weird

Rhymes with UNCANNY

afghani, kokanee