weird

1 of 2

adjective

ˈwird 

1

: of strange or extraordinary character : odd, fantastic

2

: of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the supernatural : magical

weirdness noun

weird

2 of 2

noun

1

: fate, destiny

especially : ill fortune

2

: soothsayer

Did you know?

Shakespeare's Connection to Weird

You may know weird as a generalized term describing something unusual, but this word also has older meanings that are more specific. Weird derives from the Old English noun wyrd, essentially meaning "fate." By the 8th century, the plural wyrde had begun to appear in texts as a gloss for Parcae, the Latin name for the Fates—three goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Scots authors employed werd or weird in the phrase "weird sisters" to refer to the Fates. William Shakespeare adopted this usage in Macbeth, in which the "weird sisters" are depicted as three witches. Subsequent adjectival use of weird grew out of a reinterpretation of the weird used by Shakespeare.

Synonyms

Adjective

• bizarre
• bizarro
• cranky
• crazy
• curious
• eccentric
• erratic
• far-out
• funky
• funny
• kinky
• kooky
• kookie
• odd
• off-kilter
• off-the-wall
• offbeat
• out-of-the-way
• outlandish
• outré
• peculiar
• quaint
• queer
• queerish
• quirky
• remarkable
• rum [chiefly British]
• screwy
• spaced-out
• strange
• wacky
• whacky
• way-out
• weirdo
• wild

Choose the Right Synonym for weird

weird, eerie, uncanny mean mysteriously strange or fantastic.

weird may imply an unearthly or supernatural strangeness or it may stress peculiarity or oddness.

weird creatures from another world

eerie suggests an uneasy or fearful consciousness that mysterious and malign powers are at work.

an eerie calm preceded the bombing raid

uncanny implies disquieting strangeness or mysteriousness.

an uncanny resemblance between total strangers

Examples of weird in a Sentence

Adjective

Cosmic strings are second only to black holes in the astrophysicist's pantheon of weird objects. They are narrow, ultradense filaments formed during a phase transition—called inflation—within the first microsecond of cosmic history. —Steve Nadis, Astronomy, October 2005

If you looked at them closely you realized they were carved with weird, pagan creatures, more like hobgoblins than men, half hidden among trees and leaves—here acanthus and there what looked like a palm tree. —Kate Atkinson, Case Histories, 2004

As an extended fictional device allegory is used mainly in didactic, satirical fables, such as Gulliver's Travels, Animal Farm and Erewhon. In these masterpieces a surface realism of presentation gives the fantastic events a kind of weird plausibility … —David Lodge, The Art of Fiction, 1992

My little brother acts weird sometimes.

I heard a weird noise.

That's weird—I put my book down right here just a few minutes ago and now it's gone.

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Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

However, the weirdest sky event this month has to be the occultation by an asteroid of Betelgeuse—the star in Orion that’s famous for being the likely next supernova in our cosmic neighborhood. —Jamie Carter, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023

The Information reckons keeping investors off the board will signal the prioritization of safety over revenue, which would be in line with the thinking behind OpenAI’s founding purpose and weird corporate structure. —David Meyer, Fortune, 29 Nov. 2023

During the beta period, the internet exploded with people using Photoshop’s new feature to create countless weird, wonderful, and sometimes unnerving images. —Popular Science, 29 Nov. 2023

The challenge is to normalize the weird or the garish. —Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2023

This idea works in many different contexts, delivering a weird sort of polite-seeming passive-aggressive satisfaction to the person uttering it. —Amy Dickinson, Washington Post, 24 Nov. 2023

Along the way, the trio have would-be comic run-ins with a malevolent hawk, a hairless bear, a pair of feisty park rangers (comedian/actors Meg Stalter and X Mayo) and a weird mountain cult whose leader is played by SNL regular Bowen Yang. —Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Nov. 2023

On Earth—this is so weird—all of the organic materials used in living processes are left-handed. —Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Nov. 2023

In it, a weird little punky girl with the power to assume any form comes to a formidable warrior (voiced by Riz Ahmed) on the verge of knighthood before being framed for killing the queen. —Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 15 Nov. 2023

Noun

Below is our weekly Saturday Six, a recap of half a dozen news stories — in no particular order — ranging from the heartfelt to the weird to the tragic, and everything in between. —Camille C. Knox, CBS News, 25 Mar. 2023

Lately, though, the convention seems to be veering toward the weird. —Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 26 Jan. 2023

When stay-at-home measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 went into effect earlier this spring, something weird happened to our sense of geography. —Ashley Fetters, The Atlantic, 31 May 2020

Something weird happened on the oil market last week. —Daniel Oberhaus, Wired, 1 May 2020

The antidote to the winter weirds is to stay active and go outside. —Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Dec. 2019

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Word History

Etymology

Adjective

from construal as an adjective of weird entry 2 in weird sisters, name for the Fates of Greek and Roman myth (early Scots werd sisteris, Middle English wyrde systeres, Shakespeare weyard/weyward sisters, applied to the witches in Macbeth)

Noun

Middle English wird, werd, going back to Old English wyrd, going back to Germanic *wurdi- "fate, chance" (whence Old Saxon wurđ "fate," Old High German wurt, Old Norse urðr), derivative from the base of *werþan- "to come about, happen, become" — more at worth entry 4

First Known Use

Adjective

1817, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing weird

• weird out

• weird out

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Kids Definition

weird

adjective

ˈwi(ə)rd

1

: of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or magic

2

: very unusual or strange : fantastic

weirdly adverb

weirdness noun

Etymology

Adjective

Old English wyrd (noun) "fate"

Word Origin

The belief in some form of fate, a force that cannot be explained, predicted, or controlled, has been a part of many cultures. When people understood very little of the laws of nature, such a belief may have helped to make it easier to live with life's misfortunes even if it did not make life any more comfortable. The Old English word for "fate" was wyrd. When the English began translating Latin works, they used this word for the Roman Fates, goddesses who were believed to control the events in human lives. When the Fates were described as "weird sisters," the first use of weird as an adjective occurred. People practicing witchcraft were thought to be controlling the wyrd, and in time the Modern English word weird came to refer to things that seemed to happen by magic or that were strange, unusual, or mysterious.