eerie
adj.adj. strange and frightening in a way that makes you feel nervous. It describes a feeling that something is not quite right, like a quiet street at night.
adj. suggesting the presence of the supernatural; inspiring a sense of unease through being strange or mysterious. Often used to describe silence, light, or a lack of expected activity.
The empty house was filled with an eerie silence.
An eerie green glow appeared on the horizon just before the storm began to howl.
The abandoned amusement park took on an eerie quality in the moonlight, with the rusted skeletons of the rides casting long, distorted shadows across the overgrown paths.
From Middle English eri (“fearful”), from Old English earg (“cowardly, fearful”), from Proto-West Germanic arg, from Proto-Germanic argaz. Akin to Scots ergh, argh from the same Old English source. Doublet of argh.
See eyrie.
Typically used to modify nouns related to atmosphere, such as 'silence', 'calm', 'glow', or 'stillness'.