Curious vs Erratic - What's the difference?
curious | erratic | Related terms |
(lb) Fastidious, particular; demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy.
*1612 , , Proceedings of the English Colonie in Virginia , in Kupperman 1988, p.172:
*:But departing thence, when we found no houses, we were not curious in any weather, to lie 3 or 4 nights together upon any shore under the trees by a good fire.
*(Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)
*:little curious in her clothes
Inquisitive; tending to ask questions, investigate, or explore.
:
Prompted by curiosity.
*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.ix:
*:But he to shift their curious request, / Gan causen, why she could not come in place.
Unusual; odd; out of the ordinary; bizarre.
:
*
*:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile?; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
(lb) Exhibiting care or nicety; artfully constructed; elaborate; wrought with elegance or skill.
*(Bible), (w) xxxv.32
*:to devise curious works
*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
*:his body couched in a curious bed
unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent
Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd.
(geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.
* 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA 2003, p. 372:
Anything that has erratic characteristics.
Curious is a related term of erratic.
As adjectives the difference between curious and erratic
is that curious is (lb) fastidious, particular; demanding a high standard of excellence, difficult to satisfy while erratic is unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent.As a noun erratic is
(geology) a rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.curious
English
Adjective
(en-adj)erratic
English
Alternative forms
* erratick, erraticke, erratique (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.
- erratic conduct
Derived terms
* erraticallyAntonyms
* consistentNoun
(en noun)- The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic , but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.
