Did you know?
Shakespeare's Connection to Weird
You may know weird as a generalized term describing something unusual, but this word also has older meanings that are more specific. Weird derives from the Old English noun wyrd, essentially meaning "fate." By the 8th century, the plural wyrde had begun to appear in texts as a gloss for Parcae, the Latin name for the Fates—three goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Scots authors employed werd or weird in the phrase "weird sisters" to refer to the Fates. William Shakespeare adopted this usage in Macbeth, in which the "weird sisters" are depicted as three witches. Subsequent adjectival use of weird grew out of a reinterpretation of the weird used by Shakespeare.
Synonyms
Adjective
Examples of weird in a Sentence
Steve Nadis, Astronomy, October 2005
If you looked at them closely you realized they were carved with weird, pagan creatures, more like hobgoblins than men, half hidden among trees and leaves—here acanthus and there what looked like a palm tree.
—Kate Atkinson, Case Histories, 2004
In these masterpieces a surface realism of presentation gives the fantastic events a kind of weird plausibility …
—David Lodge, The Art of Fiction, 1992
Axios Seattle, Axios, 31 Jan. 2025
Stepping back, though—doesn’t something about this feel weird?
—Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic, 31 Jan. 2025
First, read the BAIT: a weird and wonderful pick from any time in film.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 31 Jan. 2025
There’s this weird gray zone between a cult and a company, or any system of power, especially one where there is sort of a charismatic personality at the top of it like Kier Eagan.
—Ars Technica, 31 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for weird 
Cite this Entry
“Weird.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weird. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share