eccentrics

noun

plural of eccentric
as in nuts
a person of odd or whimsical habits an eccentric who designed his house to look like a Scottish castle

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of eccentrics No documentarian has a better eye for intriguing oddballs than Errol Morris, who built his feature film career on drawing them out in conversation, from pet-cemetery owners in Gates of Heaven to small-town eccentrics in Vernon, Florida. — Judy Berman, Time, 11 Aug. 2026 Dippold has populated the show with lovable eccentrics played by great character actors—Dale Dickey, Jeff Hiller, Tim Baltz. — Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 18 June 2026 Inbred eccentrics and bumbling detectives have populated the seaside villages of Bruno Dumont’s absurdist comedies. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 16 June 2026 But the film is really a tour of a pre-gentrified East Village, full of low-key bars and cafes, run-down apartments, eccentrics and struggling artists. — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2026 Once a stronghold of canneries and lumber mills, the town has numerous tumbledown Victorians that have long been havens for artists, brewers, and various eccentrics—along with fans of The Goonies, who make pilgrimages to see where the seminal movie was shot. — David Amsden, Travel + Leisure, 10 June 2026 But what the New Yorker writer left behind is some of the finest prose of the 20th century, focusing primarily on the eccentrics, scalawags, seamen, and other denizens of New York’s dank corners. — Air Mail, 2 May 2026 The town’s overflowing with charming Midwest eccentrics, including a cocky mayor (Henry Winkler) and a welcoming barkeep (Lena Headey). — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026 Those crazy, diverse individuals, that tribe of oddballs and eccentrics, dreamers, and gamblers who make up this business. — Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 14 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for eccentrics
  1. nuts
  2. characters
  3. oddballs
  4. originals
  5. cranks
  6. weirdos
  7. mavericks
  8. kooks
Noun
  • Eating plenty of nutrient-rich foods like nuts, berries, fish and leafy greens can lower inflammation.
    — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Again, that doesn’t really bother me because super-heavy energy recuperation drives me nuts, but there’s no practical reason the vehicle simply can’t retain that choice.
    — Adam Ismail, The Drive, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of nuts
Noun
  • The need for characters like this to maintain and strengthen bonds between what happens on the pitch, in the stands, online and everywhere in between cannot be overstated.
    — Art de Roché, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Stewart and Shawkat have a fun and amiable vibe together, even if their characters aren’t immediately in focus.
    — Katie Walsh, Variety, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of characters
Noun
  • No documentarian has a better eye for intriguing oddballs than Errol Morris, who built his feature film career on drawing them out in conversation, from pet-cemetery owners in Gates of Heaven to small-town eccentrics in Vernon, Florida.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The Ramones stood on stage not as rock gods or unattainable heroes, but as oddballs, misfits, and fellow outcasts in torn jeans.
    — Debby Wolfinsohn, Entertainment Weekly, 7 July 2026
Definition of oddballs
Noun
  • The Select plan, which has ads and doesn’t include sports, movies, or Peacock originals, went from $8/month to $9/month.
    — Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Select includes current and past seasons of NBC and Bravo shows and other library content, but no movies, sports or Peacock originals.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of originals
Noun
  • Indeed, cranks and conspiracists on the American and British hard right now exist in happy symbiosis.
    — Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 26 July 2026
  • The newer Schnierle hardware with which Wellhouse is working in the iCamper cranks this adjustability up considerably.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 24 July 2026
Definition of cranks
Noun
  • Fewer teams, no travel ball weirdos, and kids that want to actually be there to learn and get better without losing a spot to some kid who’s parents sign them up to play the bare minimum to qualify for the LL tournaments.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 13 Aug. 2026
  • Wrestling can attract lonely 20-somethings, misunderstood outsiders, and creative weirdos.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of weirdos
Noun
  • Carl Anka Trent Alexander-Arnold’s England career is a fascinating case study in why team sports can prefer the orthodox to the mavericks.
    — The Athletic UK Staff, New York Times, 13 May 2026
  • The confluence at Black Mountain of émigré artists like Josef and Anni Albers with homegrown mavericks like John Cage and Buckminster Fuller (who constructed his first geodesic dome there) marked an early flowering of this mode of learning, which was still in fine health decades later.
    — Christopher Benfey, The New York Review of Books, 19 Apr. 2026
Definition of mavericks
Noun
  • O’Hara worked consistently across her 50-year career in both film and television, best known for playing beloved kooks and amiable wackos, though her range was boundless.
    — Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
  • What so many of these talking heads have in common—legitimate experts, well-meaning journalists, and kooks alike—is how costly their recommendations are.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 3 Jan. 2026
Definition of kooks

Browse Nearby Words

eccentricity
eccentrics
ecclesial
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Eccentrics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eccentrics. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on eccentrics

Nglish: Translation of eccentrics for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of rigmarole

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All