different between extraordinary vs curious

English

Alternative forms

• extra-ordinary
• extraördinary (rare)

Etymology

From Latin extr??rdin?rius, from extr? ?rdinem (“outside the order”); equivalent to extra- +? ordinary. Doublet of extraordinaire.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ks?t???(?)d?n??i/, /?ks?t???(?)d?n?i/, /??kst?????(?)d?n??i/, /??kst?????(?)d?n?i/
• Hyphenation: ex?traor?di?na?ry

Adjective

extraordinary (comparative more extraordinary, superlative most extraordinary)

1. Not ordinary; exceptional; unusual.
2. Remarkably good.

3. Special or supernumerary.

   the physician extraordinary in a royal household

   an extraordinary professor in a German university

Synonyms

• exceptional
• unparalleled
• noteworthy
• outstanding

Antonyms

• everyday, normal, ordinary, regular, usual

Derived terms

• extraordinary optical transmission
• extraordinary professor
• extraordinary rendition

Translations

Noun

extraordinary (plural extraordinaries)

1. Anything that goes beyond what is ordinary.
   • 1787, The New Annual Register

     […] the sum that will probably be wanted for each head of service during the year: it is divided into the ordinary, and the extraordinaries.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English curious (“careful, meticulous; ingenious, skilful; expert, learned; concerned about (something); eager; curious, inquisitive; prying; carefully or skilfully made; exquisite, fine; sophisticated; recondite; magic or occult; absorbing, painstaking”) [and other forms], from Old French curios, curius (modern French curieux (“curious, inquisitive; interesting, quaint, unusual”)), and its etymon Latin c?ri?sus (“careful; complicated, elaborate; careworn; curious, inquisitive; meddlesome, prying”), from c?ra (“care, concern; anxiety; sorrow; attention; administration, management; command, office; guardianship”) (from Proto-Indo-European *k?eys- (“to heed”)) + -?sus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is cognate with Italian curioso (“curious, inquisitive”), Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso (“curious, inquisitive; odd, out of the ordinary”), Spanish curioso (“curious, inquisitive; interesting; odd, strange; quaint”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kj??.?i.?s/, /?kj??-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?kj?.?i.?s/, /?kj?.i.?s/
• Rhymes: -???i?s
• Hyphenation: cu?ri?ous

Adjective

curious (comparative more curious or curiouser, superlative most curious or curiousest)

1. Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.

   Synonyms: enquiring, inquiring; (obsolete) exquisitive; investigative; (rare) peery

   Antonyms: incurious, noncurious, uncurious
2. Caused by curiosity.
3. Leading one to ask questions about; somewhat odd, out of the ordinary, or unusual.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:strange

   Antonym: uncurious
4. (obsolete) Careful, fastidious, particular; (specifically) demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
5. (obsolete) Carefully or artfully constructed; made with great elegance or skill.

Usage notes

The comparative and superlative forms curiouser and curiousest are regarded as informal or nonstandard.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

curi(um) +? -ous

Adjective

curious (not comparable)

1. (chemistry, rare) Containing or pertaining to trivalent curium.

References

Further reading

• curiosity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• curious (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia