different between loathsome vs weird

English

Alternative forms

• loathesome

Etymology

From Middle English lothsum, from Old English *l?þsum, from Proto-West Germanic *laiþsam, equivalent to loath +? -some. Cognate with Middle Low German lêtsam (“arduous”), German leidsam (“sad, sorry”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l??ð.s?m/, /?l???.s?m/

Adjective

loathsome (comparative more loathsome, superlative most loathsome)

1. Highly offensive; abominable, sickening.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "loathsome" is often applied: disease, creature, thing, person, man, woman, dungeon, place, world, smell, act.

Derived terms

• loathsomely
• loathsomeness
• unloathsome

Translations

Further reading

• loathsome in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• loathsome in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• loathsome at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Alternative forms

• weïrd, wierd (obsolete)
• weyard, weyward (obsolete, Shakespeare)

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.

Weird was extinct by the 16th century in English. It survived in Scots, whence Shakespeare borrowed it in naming the Weird Sisters, reintroducing it to English. The senses "abnormal", "strange" etc. arose via reinterpretation of Weird Sisters and date from after this reintroduction.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?w??d/, /?wi??d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?wi?d/, /?w??d/
• Rhymes: -??(r)d

Adjective

weird (comparative weirder, superlative weirdest)

1. Having an unusually strange character or behaviour.

2. Deviating from the normal; bizarre.

3. (archaic) Of or pertaining to the Fates.

   (Can we find and add a quotation to this entry?)

4. (archaic) Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate.
5. (archaic) Of or pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly; suggestive of witches, witchcraft, or unearthliness; wild; uncanny.

   • Those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a weird incantation.

   • 1912, Victor Whitechurch, Thrilling Stories of the Railway

     Naphtha lamps shed a weird light over a busy scene, for the work was being continued night and day. A score or so of sturdy navvies were shovelling and picking along the track.

6. (archaic) Having supernatural or preternatural power.

Synonyms

• (having supernatural or preternatural power): eerie, spooky, uncanny
• (unusually strange in character or behaviour): odd, oddball, peculiar, strange, whacko; see also Thesaurus:insane
• (deviating from the normal): bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, strange; see also Thesaurus:strange
• (of or pertaining to the Fates): fateful

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

weird (plural weirds)

1. (archaic) Fate; destiny; luck.
2. A prediction.
3. (obsolete, Scotland) A spell or charm.
   • 1813, Walter Scott, The Bridal of Triermain

     Thou shalt bear thy penance lone
     In the Valley of Saint John,
     And this weird shall overtake thee

4. That which comes to pass; a fact.
5. (archaic, in the plural) The Fates (personified).

Synonyms

• (fate; destiny): kismet, lot, orlay, wyrd
• (luck): fortune, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck
• (prediction): foretale, foretelling, prognostication; see also Thesaurus:prediction
• (spell or charm): enchantment, incantation, cantrip
• (fact):
• (The Fates): The Norns

Derived terms

• dree one’s weird
• weirdless

Verb

weird (third-person singular simple present weirds, present participle weirding, simple past and past participle weirded)

1. (transitive) To destine; doom; change by witchcraft or sorcery.
2. (transitive) To warn solemnly; adjure.

Adverb

weird (not comparable)

1. (nonstandard) In a strange manner. [from 1970s]

Usage notes

As an adverb, weird is only used to modify verbs, and is always positioned after the verb it modifies. Unlike weirdly it cannot modify an adjective (as in "She was weirdly generous.") or an entire sentence (as in "Weirdly, no-one spoke up.").

Synonyms

• funny (adverb), strangely, weirdly

Anagrams

• Dwire, wider, wierd, wired, wride, wried

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English weird.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wi?d/

Adjective

weird (plural weirds)

1. (Quebec, Louisiana, informal) weird, bizarre.

Scots

Alternative forms

• wierd

Etymology

From Old English wyrd (“fate, destiny”), from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wird/, [wi?rd]

Noun

weird (plural weirds)

1. fate, fortune, destiny, one's own particular fate or appointed lot
2. event destined to happen, a god's decree, omen, prophecy, prediction
3. wizard, warlock, one having deep or supernatural skill or knowledge

Derived terms

Adjective

weird (comparative mair weird, superlative maist weird)

1. troublesome, mischievous, harmful

Verb

weird (third-person singular present weirds, present participle weirdin, past weirdit, past participle weirdit)

1. to ordain by fate, destine, assign a specific fate or fortune to, allot
2. to imprecate, invoke
3. to prophesy, prognosticate the fate of, warn ominously