curiously

English

Etymology

From Middle English curiusly, curyously, curiosly, curiouseliche, curyouslyche, equivalent to curious +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkjʊə.ɹi.əs.li/, /ˈkjɔːɹi.əs.li/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs.li/, /ˈkjɝ.i.əs.li/
• Hyphenation: cu‧ri‧ous‧ly

Adverb

curiously (comparative more curiously, superlative most curiously)

1. In a curious manner; with curiosity; inquisitively.

   The children peeped curiously into the attic room.

2. Oddly; in a strange or unexpected way.

   Curiously, when I arrived home, the front door was standing ajar.

   • 1988 October 7, Laura Molzahn, “Between Heaven and the Gargabe Can”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1], archived from the original on 6 March 2016:

     Performing a curiously melancholy, undulating developpe, the dancers point their legs at each other like accusing fingers.

   • 2025 October 16, Mitch Therieau, “Taylor Swift Is Our Biggest Cinematic Universe. But the Magic Is Fading.”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 October 2025:

     “The Life of a Showgirl” doesn’t quite fulfill this prophecy — or, rather, it delivers only technically. It is a work of hyperprofessional songcraft and production, but its emotional texture is curiously flat and joyless.

Derived terms

• curiously recurring template pattern
• overcuriously

Translations

inquisitively

• Catalan: curiosament (ca)
• Czech: zvědavě (cs)
• Esperanto: scivole
• Galician: curiosamente
• Hungarian: kíváncsian (hu)
• Italian: curiosamente (it)

oddly

• Catalan: curiosament (ca)
• Czech: zvláštně, podivně (cs)
• Esperanto: kurioze
• Galician: curiosamente
• Hungarian: furcsán (hu), furán (hu), különösen (hu)
• Italian: curiosamente (it)
• Spanish: curiosamente (es)