Standard Lemma guide

weird

adj · adv · noun · verb · 19 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈwɪə(ɹ)d/
  • UK: /ˈwiːə(ɹ)d/
  • US: /ˈwiɚd/
  • US: /ˈwɪɚd/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)d
  • CMU ARPABET: W IH1 R D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • There are lots of weird people in this place.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: odd, oddball, peculiar, strange, wacko, 5150, bananas, barking, barking mad, buggish, buggy, bughouse, barmy, batchy, batpoop, bats, batty, bonkers, bread baskets, cracked, crackers, cra-cra, cray, cray-cray, crazed, crazy, crazy as a bedbug, crazy as a cootie, crazy as a cootie bug, crazy as a pet coon, cuckoo, daffy, daft, demented, deranged, distraught, disturbed, doolally, dotty, eccentric, fruit loops, gaga, hatstand, harebrained, insane, kooky, loon, loco, loony, loony tunes, loopy, lunatic, mad, mental, mentally ill, meshigener, meshugge, moonsick, nerts, non compos mentis, nonsane, nucking futs, nut job, nutballs, nut, nuts, nutso, nutty, nutter, off the beam, off the chain, over the edge, potty, psycho, psychoceramic, psychotic, sicko, screwy, squirrelly, starkers, tonto, unbalanced, unsane, wackadoodle, weird, whackjob, whacko, whacky, wode, yampy, zany, apeshit, batcrap, batshit, bat-shit, fucked in the head, fucked up, ripshit

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Deviating from the normal; bizarre.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • It was quite weird to bump into all my ex-girlfriends on the same day.
  • It was weird for him to watch boys play with Barbie dolls.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bizarre, odd, out of the ordinary, strange, fremd, aberrant, abnormal, alien, anomalous, as queer as Dick's hatband, booky, curious, deviant, discrepant, eerie, eldritch, errant, exceptional, extraordinary, fey, forby, freak, freakish, freaky, funny, heteroclite, hinky, incongruous, incongruitous, irregular, kooky, monstrous, nonstandard, outlandish, outré, peculiar, quaint, queer, queer as a clockwork orange, queer as a nine bob note, queer as a three dollar bill, queer as a coot, queer as Dick's hatband, rare, rum, rummy, selcouth, seld, singular, trippy, uncanny, uncommon, uncouth, unconventional, unearthly, unexpected, unreasonable, unusual, unwonted, weird, weirdsome, yampy

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Relating to weird fiction ("a macabre subgenre of speculative fiction").

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a weird story

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Belonging, pertaining, or related to fate, destiny, or to the Fates; able to influence fate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: archaic senses

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fateful, foreordained, predestined, bashert, destined, doomed, fated, fatidic, predevote, preordained, weird

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

Related to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft or unearthliness; uncanny; unearthly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: archaic senses

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: witchish, witchlike, witchly, witchy, magicianlike, magicianly, magiciany, weird, wizardlike, wizardly, wizardy

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 6

Having super- or preternatural power.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

Qualifier: archaic senses

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: eerie, spooky, uncanny

Antonyms: none provided

7

adj

Meaning 7

Acronym of Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, not-comparable

Examples

  • WEIRD societies

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

adv

Meaning 8

In a strange manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: nonstandard, not-comparable, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: funny, strangely, weirdly

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

Fate; destiny; luck.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: kismet, lot, orlay, wyrd, chance, destin, destiny, doom, fatality, fate, foredoom, foreordination, fortune, portion, predestination, predestiny, preordination, qadar, weird

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A prediction.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foretale, foretelling, prediction, prognostication, weird

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

A spell or charm.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, countable, obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: enchantment

Antonyms: none provided

12

noun

Meaning 12

That which comes to pass; a fact.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

13

noun

Meaning 13

The Fates.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable, in-plural, uncountable

Qualifier: personification

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Norns

Antonyms: none provided

14

noun

Meaning 14

Weirdness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: colloquial, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

15

verb

Meaning 15

To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

16

verb

Meaning 16

To warn solemnly; adjure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

17

adjective satellite

Meaning 17

strikingly odd or unusual- Bram Stoker

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • some trick of the moonlight; some weird effect of shadow

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

18

adjective satellite

Meaning 18

suggesting the operation of supernatural influences- John Galsworthy- Henry Kingsley

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • an eldritch screech
  • the three weird sisters
  • stumps...had uncanny shapes as of monstrous creatures
  • an unearthly light
  • he could hear the unearthly scream of some curlew piercing the din

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: eldritch, uncanny, unearthly

Antonyms: none provided

19

noun

Meaning 19

fate personified; any one of the three Weird Sisters

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Wyrd

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Anglo-Saxon deity

History

Etymology

From Middle English werde, wierde, wirde, wyrede, wurde, from Old English wyrd (“fate”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurdi, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with Icelandic urður (“fate”). Related to Old English weorþan (“to become”); more at worth (verb). Doublet of wyrd, a reborrowing of the original sense and spelling. Obsolete by the 16th century in English, it was reintroduced by Shakespeare, who borrowed Middle Scots weird as weyward in the name of the Weyward Sisters (later respelt as Weird Sisters), meaning “Sisters of Fate”. The senses “abnormal”, “strange” etc., arising from a reinterpretatation of the Sisters' naming, are posterior to his borrowing.

Coined by American evolutionary biologist Joseph Henrich and collaborators in 2010, referring to a bias among respondents and test subjects in psychology studies. Contrived acronym from weird.

Across languages

Translations

187 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عَجِيب (ʕajīb) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Arabic: غَرِيب (ḡarīb) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Arabic: عجيب (ʕagīb) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Arabic: غَريب (ḡarīb) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Asturian: estrañu — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Asturian: ralu — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Asturian: raru — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Bashkir: сәйер (səyer) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Bulgarian: странен (stranen) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Chinese Mandarin: 奇怪 (qíguài) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Czech: divný — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Czech: zvláštní — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Danish: mærkelig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Danish: besynderlig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Danish: ejendommelig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Danish: sær — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Dutch: vreemd — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Dutch: raar — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Dutch: bizar — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Dutch: eigenaardig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Esperanto: stranga — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Faroese: løgin — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Faroese: løgið — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Finnish: outo — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Finnish: kummallinen — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Finnish: omituinen — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • French: bizarre — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • French: étrange — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Galician: estraño — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Galician: raro — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Georgian: უცნაური (ucnauri) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • German: seltsam — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • German: komisch — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • German: eigenartig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • German: merkwürdig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Greek: περίεργος (períergos) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Hawaiian: āiwaiwa — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Hebrew: מוזר (muzár) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Hunsrik: komisch — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Icelandic: skrýtinn — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Indonesian: aneh — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ingrian: muudra — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ingrian: vastumain — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Italian: strano — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Italian: bizzarro — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Japanese: 変 (hen) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Japanese: 変わった (kawatta) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Japanese: おかしい (okashii) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Khmer: ចំឡែក (cɑmlaek) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ladino: estranyo — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ladino: toaf — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Macedonian: чудно (čudno) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Middle English: straunge — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Mirandese: squejito — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Norwegian Bokmål: underlig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Norwegian Bokmål: merkelig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Old English: seldcūþ — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Persian: عجیب ('ajib) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Plautdietsch: schnoopichm sondaboa — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Polish: dziwny — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Portuguese: estranho — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Romanian: straniu — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Romanian: ciudat — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Russian: стра́нный (stránnyj) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Russian: причу́дливый (pričúdlivyj) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Russian: чудно́й (čudnój) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Spanish: raro — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Spanish: cuático — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Spanish: anormal — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Spanish: bizarro — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Swedish: konstig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Swedish: underlig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Swedish: märklig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Swedish: märkvärdig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Swedish: besynnerlig — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Tagalog: kakaiba — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Turkish: acayip — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Turkish: garip — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Turkish: tuhaf — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Turkish: yadırgatıcı — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Turkish: tüyler ürpertici — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ukrainian: ди́вний (dývnyj) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ukrainian: чудерна́цький (čudernácʹkyj) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Ukrainian: дива́цький (dyvácʹkyj) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Urdu: عجیب ('ajīb) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Vietnamese: kì quặc — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Vietnamese: kì quái — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Vietnamese: kì cục — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Yiddish: משונהדיק (meshunedik) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Yiddish: מאָדנע (modne) — having an unusually strange character or behaviour
  • Arabic: عجيب (ʕagīb) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Asturian: ralu — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Asturian: raru — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Asturian: estrañu — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Bulgarian: причудлив (pričudliv) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Catalan: rar — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Catalan: estrany — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Chinese Mandarin: 奇怪 (qíguài) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Czech: divný — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Czech: zvláštní — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Dutch: vreemd — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Dutch: raar — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Dutch: ongewoon — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Dutch: bizar — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Dutch: eigenaardig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Dutch: merkwaardig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Faroese: løgin — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Finnish: outo — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Finnish: kummallinen — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • French: bizarre — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Galician: estraño — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Galician: raro — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Georgian: უცნაური (ucnauri) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • German: eigenartig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • German: merkwürdig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • German: sonderbar — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • German: seltsam — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • German: bizarr — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Hawaiian: āiwaiwa — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Icelandic: skrýtinn — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ingrian: muudra — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ingrian: vastumain — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Italian: bizzarro — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Italian: bislacco — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Italian: strambo — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Japanese: 変 (hen) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Japanese: 変わった (kawatta) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Japanese: おかしい (okashii) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Khmer: ជំលើយ (cumləəy) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ladino: estranyo — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ladino: toaf — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Middle English: straunge — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Mirandese: squejito — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Old English: seldcūþ — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Persian: عجیب و غریب ('ajib-o-ġarib) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Plautdietsch: schnoopich — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Plautdietsch: sondaboa — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Polish: dziwaczny — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Portuguese: estranho — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Portuguese: bizarro — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Russian: стра́нный (stránnyj) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Russian: причу́дливый (pričúdlivyj) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Russian: чудно́й (čudnój) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Slovak: divný — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Spanish: raro — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Spanish: bizarro — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Spanish: cuático — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Spanish: extraño — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Swedish: konstig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Swedish: underlig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Swedish: märklig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Swedish: märkvärdig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Swedish: besynnerlig — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Turkish: garip — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Turkish: tuhaf — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Turkish: acaip — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ukrainian: ди́вний (dývnyj) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ukrainian: чудерна́цький (čudernácʹkyj) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Ukrainian: химе́рний (xymérnyj) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Unami: wëlelëmi — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Urdu: عجیب ('ajīb) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Vietnamese: lạ — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Vietnamese: kì lạ — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Vietnamese: kì dị — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Yiddish: משונהדיק (meshunedik) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Yiddish: מאָדנע (modne) — deviating from the normal; bizarre
  • Bulgarian: свръхествствен (svrǎhestvstven) — having super- or preternatural power
  • Dutch: bovennatuurlijk — having super- or preternatural power
  • Finnish: yliluonnollinen — having super- or preternatural power
  • German: geheimnisvoll — having super- or preternatural power
  • German: unheimlich — having super- or preternatural power
  • German: übernatürlich — having super- or preternatural power
  • Hawaiian: ano — having super- or preternatural power
  • Hawaiian: ʻeʻehia — having super- or preternatural power
  • Italian: anormale — having super- or preternatural power
  • Italian: surreale — having super- or preternatural power
  • Italian: paranormale — having super- or preternatural power
  • Italian: innaturale — having super- or preternatural power
  • Italian: fuori dall'ordinario — having super- or preternatural power
  • Italian: assurdo — having super- or preternatural power
  • Russian: потусторо́нний (potustorónnij) — having super- or preternatural power
  • Russian: сверхъесте́ственный (sverxʺjestéstvennyj) — having super- or preternatural power
  • Spanish: extraño — having super- or preternatural power
  • Turkish: acaip — having super- or preternatural power
  • Turkish: esrarengiz — having super- or preternatural power
  • Turkish: doğaüstü — having super- or preternatural power
  • Ukrainian: надприро́дний (nadpryródnyj) — having super- or preternatural power
Real reading context

weird in complete knowledge articles

John Martin Leahy Literature & books · Accessible · 8 uses Bill Draut Arts & music · Challenging · 3 uses The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Arts & music · Advanced · 3 uses John O'Grady (writer) Literature & books · Advanced · 2 uses