1
as in strange
different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion
one competitor had a queer way of running that attracted a lot of attention from the spectators
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in unusual
noticeably different from what is generally found or experienced
a lot of queer things started happening almost from the day that we moved into the house
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
4
as in questionable
giving good reason for being doubted, questioned, or challenged
queer business practices that bear some looking into
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to humble
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in to gum (up)
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of queer
Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 12 Aug. 2025
Was this his way of queering e-commerce, subverting the platform from within?
—Oscar Schwartz, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2024
Fish lesbians often queered feminine aesthetics, warping heteronormative and cisnormative expectations of gender to play with them in more imaginative ways.
—Quispe López, Them, 1 Aug. 2024
Almodóvar’s gaze is more like a series of fun house mirrors here, passing through classic dime-store-novel narrative, the macho-man canon of midcentury Technicolor westerns and the winky camp of queering it all in circa-2023 couture.
—Leah Greenblatt, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2023
Verb
These films have always carried rich undercurrents: the corporate exploitation of blue-collar workers (the Nostromo crew, the marines in Aliens, the kids of Romulus), queered reproduction via body horror, Ripley’s evolving incarnations of motherhood, human hubris punished by its own creations.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 12 Aug. 2025
Was this his way of queering e-commerce, subverting the platform from within?
—Oscar Schwartz, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2024
Fish lesbians often queered feminine aesthetics, warping heteronormative and cisnormative expectations of gender to play with them in more imaginative ways.
—Quispe López, Them, 1 Aug. 2024
Almodóvar’s gaze is more like a series of fun house mirrors here, passing through classic dime-store-novel narrative, the macho-man canon of midcentury Technicolor westerns and the winky camp of queering it all in circa-2023 couture.
—Leah Greenblatt, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for queer
Adjective
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The author could herself be considered predatorial, having written her own children in as the books’ protagonists, saddling them with a strange kind of fame.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 June 2026
-
This strange occurrence echoes what happened at the top of the dot-com bubble 26 years ago.—
Lim Hui Jie,
CNBC,
2 June 2026
Adjective
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Since arriving at the zoo, the buffalo has attracted large crowds and sparked debate over its unusual nickname.—
Michael Sinkewicz,
FOXNews.com,
4 June 2026
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What’s unusual is to see these elements presented so grandly on a stage as big as The Bushnell’s and presented in a manner that doesn’t compromise a dark tale of anger, revenge, dangerous romance, desperation and survival.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
4 June 2026
Adjective
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One night in April when the boy playing Orlando was home sick and Jamie was waiting for Adele in their private coital chamber, Bromley kept her late to work on the scene where Orlando courts Rosalind playing Ganymede playing Rosalind.—
Jonathan Franzen,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
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Recently, she’s begun to feel physically sick due to everything going on in her life and is sharing with us that she’s been struggling with getting up, eating and other simple, everyday things.—
Harriette Cole,
Mercury News,
1 June 2026
Adjective
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While the veracity of those statements is, at best, questionable, the final entry in the saga of games going to space features Microsoft’s AR HoloLens technology.—
William Worrall,
Space.com,
30 May 2026
-
Borg’s aggressive send of Adames was just one of the questionable decisions Borg made in his two months as San Francisco’s third-base coach.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
29 May 2026
Verb
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In December, the proprietary model AxiomProver achieved a perfect score on the Putnam Competition — the notoriously brutal math exam that has humbled Fields medalists.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
1 June 2026
-
Tavarez, the Monarchs’ coach, was living in Hawaii during Monte Vista’s humbling 2025 season.—
Don Norcross,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2026
Adjective
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Some of these flourishes are jarringly funny, others merely stop the film momentarily in its tracks.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
5 June 2026
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People being all excited to be in an alliance that doesn't actually exist shouldn't be funny.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 June 2026
Adjective
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California’s way of determining which two candidates move from a primary to a general election — the result of Proposition 14 in 2010 — is uncommon.—
Kaitlyn Schallhorn,
Oc Register,
30 May 2026
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Officials said cases over the last seven months have been concentrated in Northern California and the Central Coast, including counties where these mushrooms have historically been uncommon.—
Karen Garcia,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
Adjective
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Even at the height of his fame, there were dubious aspects of his personal life — often self-seeded to sustain his enigma — that poked hellified holes in his impermeability as an entertainer.—
Rodney Carmichael,
NPR,
3 June 2026
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Governor Gretchen Whitmer, often touted as a viable Democratic presidential nominee, has always offered a helping hand to major corporations, even when the benefits to her constituents are dubious.—
Andrew Cockburn,
Harpers Magazine,
2 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Queer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/queer. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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