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bizarre

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French bizarre (“odd, peculiar, bizarre”, formerly “headlong, angry”), then either from Italian bizzarro (“weird, eccentric, frisky”) or, less likely, from Basque bizar (literally “beard”, from the notion that bearded Spanish soldiers made a strange impression on the French).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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bizarre (comparative more bizarre or bizarrer, superlative most bizarre or bizarrest)

  1. Strangely unconventional; highly unusual and different from common experience, often in an extravagant, fantastic, and/or conspicuous way.
    That was a bizarre adventure!
    • 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XVII, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, pages 154–155:
      […] no, the abjectly unheroic nature of the death,—that was the sting,—that and the bizarre wording of the resulting obituary: “Shot with a rock, on a raft.”
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
      Strange as it all was, bizarre as it may hereafter seem even to us who felt its potent influence at the time, it comforted us much; and the silence, which showed Mrs. Harker’s coming relapse from her freedom of soul, did not seem so full of despair to any of us as we had dreaded.
    • 1899 (please specify the page), Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part:
      […] she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire gauntlets to the elbow, a crimson spot on her tawny cheek, innumerable necklaces of glass beads on her neck; bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch-men, that hung about her, glittered and trembled at every step.
    • 1903 December 26, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC:
      I confess that I had not up to now taken a very serious view of the case, which had seemed to me rather grotesque and bizarre than dangerous.
    • 1985, “A Love Bizarre”, in Romance 1600, performed by Sheila E. ft. Prince:
      That's what we are / We all want a love bizarre
    • 2011 October 22, Sam Sheringham, “Aston Villa 1 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎[1], archived from the original on 27 August 2025:
      West Brom enjoyed more possession as the half progressed and were handed a penalty of their own in the 21st minute in bizarre circumstances.
    • 2019 September 6, Jordan Weissman, “How Not to Fight Anti-Semitism”, in Slate‎[2], archived from the original on 14 April 2021:
      Unfortunately, she has used the attack as a launch pad for a bizarre and undercooked exercise in rhetorical bothsidesism, in which she argues that American Jews should be just as worried about college students who overzealously criticize Israel as they are about the aspiring Einsatzgruppen who shoot up shuls.

Usage notes

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  • The comparative and superlative forms with more and most are predominant. The alternative superlative bizarrest is fairly common, whereas the comparative bizarrer is very rare.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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bizarre (plural bizarres)

  1. (horticulture) Any of several types of flower with stripes of various colours.
    1. A carnation having stripes of two distinct colours on the white petals.
    2. A tulip with a certain pattern of various colored stripes.
      • 1889 January 1, Polman Mooy, “The Tulip, Its Origin and History”, in City Document No. 76: Annual Report of the Superintendent of Common and Public Grounds[3] (Documents of the City of Boston, for the Year 1889[4]), volume II, Rockwell and Churchill (city printers), published 1890, page 38:
        Another singular feature in the tulip is, that after it breaks, it ever remains the same, and never returns to its self-color again.
        The show or fancy tulips are divided into three classes:—
        1. Bybloemen, or violets, such as have a white ground, variegated with purple or violet, the edges well feathered, the leaflets erect, and the whole forming a perfect cup.
        2. Bizarres, having a yellow ground, variegated with rose, scarlet, purple, or violet. 3. Roses, with white ground color, variegated with rosy-red, pink, or soft rose.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Danish

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Adjective

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bizarre

  1. definite of bizar
  2. plural of bizar

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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bizarre

  1. inflection of bizar:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

French

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Etymology

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    Borrowed from Italian bizzarro.

    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    bizarre (plural bizarres)

    1. bizarre, odd, strange, funny
      Je me sens bizarre.
      I feel strange.
      J'ai une impression bizarre de te connaître.
      I have a funny feeling I know you.
    2. peculiar, quaint

    Usage notes

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    • Bizarre can mean "bizarre" but it is also used for strange situations that are less extreme than would be connoted by "bizarre" in English.

    Synonyms

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    Descendants

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    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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    German

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    Pronunciation

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    Adjective

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    bizarre

    1. inflection of bizarr:
      1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
      2. strong nominative/accusative plural
      3. weak nominative all-gender singular
      4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

    Interlingua

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    Adjective

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    bizarre (comparative plus bizarre, superlative le plus bizarre)

    1. bizarre
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