Word
weird
US/ˈwɪɹd/
UK/wˈiəd/
Definitions
01strange or unusual
B1 · Intermediate
adj. very strange or unusual, often in a way that is hard to understand or makes you feel uncomfortable.
adj. deviating from the normal or expected; suggesting the uncanny or bizarre.
日本語:変な※
“I heard a weird noise coming from the basement late last night.”
“The silence in the abandoned village felt weirdly heavy, as if the buildings themselves were watching our every move.”
02fate or destiny
C2 · Proficiency Uncountable noun Archaic · Literary
n. an old word for fate or what is meant to happen in the future.
n. the principle of fate or destiny. Often encountered in literary contexts or historical studies of mythology.
“The old stories say that no man can escape his weird.”
“The protagonist's struggle against his appointed weird forms the central tragic arc of the poem.”
Antonyms
03to make someone feel uneasy
B2 · Upper Intermediate Informal
v. to make someone feel uncomfortable or strange, usually used with 'out'.
v. to induce a feeling of unease or strangeness in someone. Almost exclusively used in the phrasal verb 'weird out'.
“The way he stared at me without saying anything really weirded me out.”
“The uncanny valley effect in the animation tended to weird out the audience, making the characters feel more like mannequins than people.”
Usage
Usually functions as the phrasal verb 'weird out' and takes a direct object.
Synonyms
Collocations
Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word “weird” in context.
Verb
01. act weird
“My cat has been acting weird all morning, hiding under the sofa and refusing to eat.”
verb + adj
02. feel weird
“I started to feel weird after drinking that herbal tea, so I sat down for a moment.”
verb + adj
03. look weird
“That cloud looks weird; it has a perfectly square shape that I've never seen before.”
verb + adj
Adjective
04. really weird
“It was really weird seeing my old teacher at a rock concert over the weekend.”
adv + adj
05. weird coincidence
“It was a weird coincidence that we both bought the exact same gift for Sarah.”
adj + noun
06. weird noise
“The car is making a weird noise every time I try to shift gears.”
adj + noun
Noun
07. weird thing about the situation
“The weird thing about the situation was that nobody seemed to notice the fire alarm.”
adj + noun + prep + noun
Real-World Examples
“It’s gonna feel weird, but you’ll find your feet.” “It’s weird, but now it seems to me that I’m already mentally exhausted.” 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”). Doublet of wyrd. More at worth. Obsolete by the 16th century in English, but reintroduced from Middle Scots weird, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters (originally Weyward Sisters, the Three Witches), reintroducing it to English. The senses “abnormal”, “strange” etc. arose via reinterpretation of Weird Sisters and date from after this reintroduction.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
NOUN
ADJECTIVE
ADVERB
Domain
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B2 FirstIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.5.5–6.5TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 4.0–4.572–94TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.785–944
- Frequency
- Very common
- Level
- B2 · Upper IntermediateOxford
- Updated
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QR code
englishreference.com/q/weird
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「日本語」 data: JMdict (EDRDG), CC BY-SA 4.0