Noun

(curiosities)

(obsolete) Careful, delicate construction; fine workmanship, delicacy of building.

* 1631 , John Smith, Advertisements , in Kupperman 1988, p. 81:

wee built a homely thing like a barne, set upon Cratchets, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth, so also was the walls; the best of our houses of the like curiosity , but the most part farre much worse workmanship [...].

Inquisitiveness; the tendency to ask and learn about things by asking questions, investigating, or exploring.

* 1886 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde)

It was the first time that the lawyer had been received in that part of his friend's quarters; and he eyed the dingy, windowless structure with curiosity , and gazed round with a distasteful sense of strangeness as he crossed the theatre

* 1956 , , (The City and the Stars) , p 39:

"Certainly there is nothing wrong with Alvin's intelligence, but many of the things that should concern him seem to be a matter of complete indifference. On the other hand, he shows a morbid curiosity regarding subjects which we do not generally discuss."

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author= Terrie Moffitt] [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/richie-poulton et] [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/avshalom-caspi al.

, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control , passage=Curiosity about the power of self-control skills, which include conscientiousness, self-discipline, and perseverance, arose from recent empirical observations that preschool Head Start, an ambitious, federally funded program of special services launched in 1965 to boost the intellectual development of needy children, has failed to achieve the goal of boosting IQ scores. But the programs have unexpectedly succeeded in lowering the former pupils’ rates of teen pregnancy, school dropout, delinquency, and work absenteeism.}}

A unique or extraordinary object which arouses interest.

Noun

(uncountable) Mental, sometimes emotional process of comprehension, assimilation of knowledge, which is subjective by its nature.

(countable) Reason or intelligence, ability to grasp the full meaning of knowledge, ability to infer.

(countable) Opinion, judgement or outlook.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= The machine of a new soul , passage=The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.}}

(countable) An informal contract, mutual agreement.

(countable) A reconciliation of differences.

(uncountable) Sympathy.

All that people individually sense and feel of themselves.