curiosity
/kjʊərɪˈɒsɪti
/noun (plural curiosities)
1 [mass noun] A strong desire to know or learn something: filled with curiosity, she peered through the window curiosity got the better of me, so I called him...
- And I am consumed by curiosity and a desire to know what on earth this cool thing is going to be like.
- In his essay on Leonardo, Freud even derives curiosity and the desire for knowledge from sexuality.
- The latter is a moralistic bore who puts intellectual curiosity second to her desire to pontificate.
Synonyms
inquisitiveness, interest, spirit of enquiry
informal nosiness
2An unusual or interesting object or fact: he showed them some of the curiosities of the house...
- And amidst the displays of oddities and curiosities, the museum of anatomy was in some ways the oddest and most curious.
- Collectors paid much greater sums for medical curiosities.
- The unusual surface textures of fossil cycads have been interesting curiosities to collectors for a long time.
Synonyms
peculiarity, oddity, strangeness, oddness, idiosyncrasy, unusualness, novelty
oddity, curio, novelty, conversation piece, object of virtu, collector's item;
rarity, wonder, marvel, phenomenon
Phrases
curiosity killed the cat
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French curiousete, from Latin curiositas, from curiosus (see curious).