CURIOSITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does curiosity mean? 

• CURIOSITY (noun)
  The noun CURIOSITY has 2 senses:

1. a state in which you want to learn more about something

2. something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting

  Familiarity information: CURIOSITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CURIOSITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state in which you want to learn more about something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

curiosity; wonder

Hypernyms ("curiosity" is a kind of...):

cognitive state; state of mind (the state of a person's cognitive processes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curiosity"):

desire to know; lust for learning; thirst for knowledge (curiosity that motivates investigation and study)

interest; involvement (a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something)

curiousness; inquisitiveness (a state of active curiosity)

Derivation:

curious (eager to investigate and learn or learn more (sometimes about others' concerns))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

curio; curiosity; oddity; oddment; peculiarity; rarity

Hypernyms ("curiosity" is a kind of...):

object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "curiosity"):

bric-a-brac; knickknack; knickknackery; nicknack; whatnot (miscellaneous curios)

collectable; collectible (things considered to be worth collecting (not necessarily valuable or antique))

collector's item; piece de resistance; showpiece (the outstanding item (the prize piece or main exhibit) in a collection)

Derivation:

curious (beyond or deviating from the usual or expected)

 Context examples 

The three looked at me, but not distrustfully; I felt there was no suspicion in their glances: there was more of curiosity.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But here I took pity on my visitor’s suspense, and some perhaps on my own growing curiosity.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He will see the Rushworths, which own I am not sorry for—having a little curiosity, and so I think has he—though he will not acknowledge it.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He had two large rooms full of wonderful curiosities, and fifty men at work.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He did not change his position either, but continued to gaze down with a great curiosity.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Talk of the curiosity of women, indeed!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

When men like yourself, who represent the foolish curiosity of the public, came to disturb my privacy I was unable to meet them with dignified reserve.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was the curiosity of growth that urged him on—the necessity of learning and living and doing that brings experience.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

This was a device, I suppose, to sport with my curiosity, and exercise my talent of guessing.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But to those who are not honest, or who approach him from curiosity, he is most terrible, and few have ever dared ask to see his face.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)