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peculiar

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Out of the ordinary.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

puhkyoolyer

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

pəkˈjuljɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Out of the ordinary; odd; strange; unusual.

  2. Common or usual for a certain place or circumstance; specific or particular.

noun

  1. That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Out of the ordinary; odd; strange; unusual.

Used this way, peculiar is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Common

peculiar institutionpeculiar circumstances

Peculiar

peculiar nature

Other combinations

peculiar characterpeculiar formpeculiar kindpeculiar interestpeculiar manner

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • strange

    Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, often with a negative connotation.

  • curious

    Leading one to ask questions about.

  • funny

    Strange or unusual, often in an unpleasant way.

  • unusual

    Not usual, out of the ordinary.

  • queer

    Strange, odd, or different.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • peculiarlyadverbDerived adverb

    Uniquely or characteristically.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • peculiar velocitynounCompound term

    Velocity with respect to the local standard of rest.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.