different between provocative vs curious
provocative
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French provocatif, and its source, Late Latin provocativus, from Latin provocare.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /p???v?k.?.t?v/
- (General American) IPA(key): /p???v?k.?.t?v/
Adjective
provocative (comparative more provocative, superlative most provocative)
- Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often negative sentiment in another person; exasperating.
- Serving or tending to excite, stimulate or arouse sexual interest; sexy.
Related terms
- provoke
- provocation
- provocator
Related terms
- provocateur
Translations
Noun
provocative (plural provocatives)
- (obsolescent) Something that provokes an appetite, especially a sexual appetite; an aphrodisiac. [from 15th c.]
- 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury:
- She used by way of Provocative, to read the wanton Verses of her Paramour in the day time [...].
- 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury:
Latin
Adjective
pr?voc?t?ve
- vocative masculine singular of pr?voc?t?vus
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curious
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)
- 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
- Caused by curiosity.
- Leading one to ask questions about; somewhat odd, out of the ordinary, or unusual.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:strange
- Antonym: uncurious
- (obsolete) Careful, fastidious, particular; (specifically) demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
- (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)
- (chemistry, rare) Containing or pertaining to trivalent curium.
References
Further reading
- curiosity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- curious (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
curious From the web:
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- what curious george character are you
- what curious toddlers do crossword
- what curious episode occurs in the study
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