Word adjective
eerie
adj.
US /ˈɪɹi/ UK /ˈiəɹi/ eerie
Definition
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
strange and scary in a way that makes you feel like something bad might happen.
inspiring a sense of unease or fear through being strange, mysterious, or uncanny.
Simple“An eerie silence filled the old house after the storm stopped.”
In context“The abandoned factory was bathed in an eerie green light that made the investigators feel increasingly unwelcome.”
SynonymsAntonyms
Real-world usage
“The lack of light hitting the Moon will give it an eerie reddish glow.”
Etymology
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
This entry
Origin gem-pro *argaz
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated