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Strange vs Silly - What's the difference?

strange | silly | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between strange and silly

is that strange is not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced while silly is harmless; innocent; inoffensive.

As adjectives the difference between strange and silly

is that strange is not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary while silly is pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless.

As nouns the difference between strange and silly

is that strange is vagina while silly is a silly person; a fool.

As a verb strange

is to alienate; to estrange.

As a proper noun Strange

is {{surname}.

strange

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary.
  • He thought it strange that his girlfriend wore shorts in the winter.
  • * Milton
  • Sated at length, erelong I might perceive / Strange alteration in me.
  • Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
  • I moved to a strange town when I was ten.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Here is the hand and seal of the duke; you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you.
  • * 1955 , edition, ISBN 0553249592, pages 48–49:
  • She's probably sitting there hoping a couple of strange detectives will drop in.
  • (physics) Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
  • * 2004 Frank Close, Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction , Oxford, page 93:
  • A strange quark is electrically charged, carrying an amount -1/3, as does the down quark.
  • (obsolete) Belonging to another country; foreign.
  • * Shakespeare
  • one of the strange queen's lords
  • * Ascham
  • I do not contemn the knowledge of strange and divers tongues.
  • (obsolete) Reserved; distant in deportment.
  • * Shakespeare
  • She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee.
    (Nathaniel Hawthorne)
  • (obsolete) Backward; slow.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • Who, loving the effect, would not be strange / In favouring the cause.
  • (obsolete) Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
  • * Shakespeare
  • In thy fortunes am unlearned and strange .

    Synonyms

    * (not normal) bizarre, fremd, odd, out of the ordinary, peculiar, queer, singular, unwonted, weird * (qualifier, not part of one's experience): new, unfamiliar, unknown * See also

    Antonyms

    * (not normal) everyday, normal, regular (especially US), standard, usual, unsurprising * (qualifier, not part of one's experience): familiar, known

    Derived terms

    * for some strange reason * like a cat in a strange garret * strange as it may seem * strange bird * strangelet * strange matter * strange quark * strangely * strangeness * strangeonium * stranger things happen at sea, stranger things have happened at sea * strange to say * truth is stranger than fiction

    Verb

    (strang)
  • (obsolete) To alienate; to estrange.
  • (obsolete) To be estranged or alienated.
  • (obsolete) To wonder; to be astonished.
  • (Glanvill)

    Statistics

    *

    Noun

    (no plural)
  • (slang, uncountable) vagina
  • ----

    silly

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (label) Pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , I.vi:
  • A silly man, in simple weedes forworne, / And soild with dust of the long dried way; / His sandales were with toilesome trauell torne, / And face all tand with scorching sunny ray
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • After long storms with which my silly bark was tossed sore.
  • * (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) (1772-1834)
  • The silly buckets on the deck.
  • (label) Simple, unsophisticated, ordinary; rustic, ignorant.
  • * 1633 , (John Donne), "Sapho to Philænis":
  • For, if we justly call each silly man'' / A ''little island , What shall we call thee than?
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • A fourth man, in a silly habit.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • All that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
  • Foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom; frivolous, trifling.
  • Irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors.
  • Semiconscious, witless.
  • (label) Of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short.
  • Simple, not intelligent, unrefined.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke
  • (label) Happy; fortunate; blessed.
  • (Chaucer)
  • (label) Harmless; innocent; inoffensive.
  • * (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • The silly virgin strove him to withstand.
  • * Robynson (More's Utopia)
  • A silly , innocent hare murdered of a dog.

    Derived terms

    * sillily (adverb) * silly season

    Antonyms

    * ("playful"): pious

    Synonyms

    * ("playful"): charming

    Noun

    (sillies)
  • (colloquial) A silly person; a fool.
  • (colloquial) A mistake.
  • Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words