eerie
/ˈɪəri
/adjective (eerier, eeriest)
Strange and frightening: an eerie green glow in the sky...
- Backstage is strangely eerie, so I go to my dressing-room for some quiet time.
- The room was dark, except for an eerie glow of green from a weak neon lamp on the ceiling.
- They are concerned for elderly neighbours who can be left terrified by the eerie silences on the end of the phone.
Synonyms
uncanny, sinister, ghostly, spectral, unnatural, unearthly, preternatural, supernatural, other-worldly, unreal, mysterious, strange, abnormal, odd, curious, queer, weird, bizarre, freakish;
frightening, spine-chilling, hair-raising, blood-curdling, scaring, terrifying, petrifying, chilling;
Scottish eldritch
informal creepy, scary, spooky, freaky
British informal rum
Derivatives
eeriness
/ noun ...- There was an aura of strangeness around the set, a sort of quiet eeriness to it all.
- I'm thinking of the score Philip Glass did for Dracula and how it brought the film to a whole new level of eeriness, an emotional impact that I don't think it ever achieved before that.
- But, today there was just this eeriness about the place that I could not explain and office space was being given away for $0.50 per square foot.
Origin
Middle English (originally northern English and Scots in the sense 'fearful'): probably from Old English earg 'cowardly', of Germanic origin; related to German arg.
The word eerie ‘strange and frightening’ was originally northern English and Scots in the sense ‘fearful’. The focus then moved from feelings of fear to the cause of the fear. It probably comes from Old English earg ‘cowardly’.