word-vault/dist/data/cards/pe/peculiar.json

A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.

{
    "term": "peculiar",
    "partOfSpeech": "adjective",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "strange or unusual, especially in a way that is unpleasant or makes you worried",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a peculiar smell/taste"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The meat tasted rather peculiar."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There was something peculiar in the way he smiled."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I had a peculiar feeling we'd met before."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He died in very peculiar circumstances."
                },
                {
                    "text": "**For some peculiar reason**, she refused to come inside."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I find her attitude a bit peculiar, to say the least."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Her behaviour was a peculiar mixture of the sophisticated and the childlike."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The peculiar thing was that no one mentioned her disappearance."
                },
                {
                    "text": "They behaved in a very peculiar way."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "feel", "look"],
                "adverb": ["most", "very", "quite"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "belonging or relating to one particular place, situation, person, etc., and not to others",
            "sensetop": "peculiar (to somebody/something)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a humour that is peculiar to American sitcoms"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a species of bird peculiar to Asia"
                },
                {
                    "text": "He has his own peculiar style which you'll soon get used to."
                },
                {
                    "text": "the family’s peculiar importance in the affair"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the peculiar properties of mercury"
                },
                {
                    "text": "These problems are by no means peculiar to this country."
                },
                {
                    "text": "We shall concentrate on environmental features that are peculiar to the tropics."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He waved in a way entirely peculiar to himself."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Each house had its own peculiar smell."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Every case presents its own peculiar problems."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "slightly ill",
            "labels": "(British English, informal)",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I don’t think I’ll eat anything—I’m feeling a bit peculiar."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Health problems"],
            "collocations": {
                "verbs": ["be", "feel", "look"],
                "adverb": ["most", "very", "quite"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "used to show that ‘funny’ is being used with the meaning of ‘strange’",
            "labels": "(informal)",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/pɪˈkjuːliə(r)/",
                "audio": "pe/peculiar/peculiar__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/pɪˈkjuːliər/",
                "audio": "pe/peculiar/peculiar__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (in the sense ‘particular’): from Latin peculiaris ‘of private property’, from peculium ‘property’, from pecu ‘cattle’ (cattle being private property). The sense ‘strange’ dates from the early 17th cent."
}