curiosity
[noun]
Synonyms:
- inquisitiveness, interest, nosiness (informal), prying, snooping (informal)
- oddity, freak, novelty, phenomenon, rarity, sight, spectacle, wonder

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Antonyms: disinterest
Related Idioms: something to write home about
Related Words: inquisitiveness, questioning, exception, nonesuch, rarity, marvel, prodigy, wonder, anomaly, freak, monstrosity

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

cu‧ri‧os‧i‧ty /ˌkjʊəriˈɒsəti, ˌkjʊəriˈɒsɪti $ ˌkjʊriˈɑːs-/ noun (plural curiosities)

1. [singular, uncountable] the desire to know about something:
I opened the packet just to satisfy my curiosity.
The news aroused a lot of curiosity among local people.
She decided to follow him out of curiosity.
Margaret looked at him with curiosity.
curiosity about
Children have a natural curiosity about the world around them.
a man of immense intellectual curiosity
It was idle curiosity that made me ask.

2. [countable] someone or something that is interesting because they are unusual or strange:
a house full of old maps and other curiosities
In the past, men who wanted to work with children were regarded as something of a curiosity.
It’s not worth much, but I kept it for its curiosity value.

3. curiosity killed the cat used to tell someone not to ask too many questions about something

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

curiosity
noun
ADJ. great, intense | insatiable She has an insatiable curiosity about life.
mild | idle, mere, simple ‘Why do you ask?’ ‘Mere curiosity.’
natural School should awaken a child's natural curiosity.
open staring with open curiosity
morbid
VERB + CURIOSITY have | arouse, awaken Their curiosity was aroused by his strange behaviour.
satisfy
CURIOSITY + VERB get the better of sb, overcome sb Harry's curiosity got the better of him and he unlocked the cupboard
PREP. out of ~ We went to the show out of curiosity more than anything else.
with ~ The children watched us with mild curiosity.
~ about I needed to satisfy my curiosity about what it was like to make records.
PHRASES a sense of curiosity

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

curiosity

have a lot of curiosity
Bright children often have a lot of curiosity.
satisfy somebody's curiosity (=find out something that you want to know)
I decided to call him in order to satisfy my curiosity.
arouse somebody's curiosity (=make someone want to know about something)
New people in the village always aroused our curiosity.
curiosity gets the better of somebody/overcomes somebody (=makes you do something that you are trying not to do)
Curiosity got the better of me and I opened her diary.
pique somebody's curiosity (=make someone want to know about something)
Something she said had piqued his curiosity.
natural curiosity
The children are encouraged to follow their natural curiosity, and learn about what interests them.
intellectual curiosity
Highly intelligent people are full of intellectual curiosity.
scientific curiosity (=about scientific things)
Their scientific curiosity led to the development of the vaccine.
idle curiosity (=wanting to know something for no particular reason)
Out of idle curiosity, I looked out of the window.
open curiosity (=that you do not try to hide)
The children were staring at her with open curiosity.
great/intense curiosity
His disappearance had obviously aroused great curiosity.
insatiable curiosity (=used when someone is always curious)
He had an insatiable curiosity about why people do the things they do.
mild curiosity (=not great)
I watched what was happening with mild curiosity.
morbid curiosity (=a feeling of wanting to know about death or other bad things that happen)
the morbid curiosity of the onlookers at the trial
be burning with curiosity (=want to know about something very much)
She was burning with curiosity about him, but was too polite to ask.
be an object/a subject of curiosity (=be something or someone that makes people curious)
Anyone new was always the object of our curiosity.
curiosity value (=the quality or advantage of being something that people want to know about)
When the shop was new it had curiosity value.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

curiosity
noun
1.
BAD: It was this film that first aroused my curiosity on Korean culture.
GOOD: It was this film that first aroused my curiosity about Korean culture.

Usage Note:
curiosity about sth : 'The article was inspired by her curiosity about plants and medicine.'

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2.
BAD: Several passers-by stopped to look at the strange bicycle from curiosity.
GOOD: Several passers-by stopped to look at the strange bicycle out of curiosity.

Usage Note:
You do or ask something out of curiosity (NOT from ): 'Just out of curiosity, what made you decide to marry him after all?'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲