curiosity
Pronunciation Noun
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Pronunciation Noun
curiosity
- (uncountable) Inquisitiveness; the tendency to ask and learn about things by asking questions, investigating, or exploring. [from 17th c.]
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
- It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend's quarters; and he eyed the dingy, windowless structure with curiosity, and gazed round with a distasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
- A unique or extraordinary object which arouses interest. [from 17th c.]
- He put the strangely shaped rock in his curiosity cabinet.
- (obsolete) Careful, delicate construction; fine workmanship, delicacy of building. [16th-19th c.]
- 1631, John Smith, Advertisements, in Kupperman 1988, p. 81:
- wee built a homely thing like a barne, set upon Cratchets, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth, so also was the walls; the best of our houses of the like curiosity, but the most part farre much worse workmanship […]
- 1631, John Smith, Advertisements, in Kupperman 1988, p. 81:
- French: curiosité
- German: Neugier, Neugierde
- Italian: curiosità
- Portuguese: curiosidade
- Russian: любопы́тство
- Spanish: curiosidad
- French: curiosité
- German: Kuriosität, Kuriosum
- Italian: curiosità
- Portuguese: curiosidade
- Russian: дико́вина
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.015