Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Suggesting puzzlement; questioning.
- adj. Teasing; mocking: "His face wore a somewhat quizzical almost impertinent air” ( Lawrence Durrell).
- adj. Eccentric; odd.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Characteristic of a quiz; bantering; teasing; shy; queer: as, a quizzical look or remark.
Wiktionary
- adj. Questioning or suggesting puzzlement.
- adj. Strange or eccentric.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Relating to quizzing; given to quizzing; of the nature of a quiz; farcical; sportive.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. perplexed (as if being expected to know something that you do not know)
- adj. playfully vexing (especially by ridicule)
Examples
“She opened her eyes to find him peering down at her, his expression quizzical.”
“And because the Huskies don't travel to the Bay Area this season, a win like this would have been like scoring the word "quizzical" in Scrabble.”
“His expression was quizzical and slightly concerned.”
“He recalled the quizzical looks he got from batters when the sinker came in hard like a fastball and then broke downward.”
“Quietly rubbing against the grain of contemporary painting, this kind of quizzical, intimate work is a thing to be cherished.”
“The Geekette, what was her name, Phoebe? sat up a little straighter, tensing slightly, then favoured him with a raised eyebrow that could only be called "quizzical".”
“When it became clear to him that he appeared for the moment to have nothing to fear from the eagle, who was merely regarding him with a kind of quizzical, blinking doubt, he sat up, and then slowly dragged himself back to his feet and wiped and smaacked some of the dirt off his coat.”
“The baby’s feathered face can be remarkably expressive: it is wearing what can only be described as a quizzical look: What’s this?”
“It simply gazed back with a kind of quizzical pity on its lean features under the scrutiny of eyes so deep, so meaningful, so desolate, and yet so indomitably courageous.”
“You say to an Irishman, "Pat! what will you take and sit on the spire of St. James 'Cathedral all night?" and he looks at you in a kind of quizzical way and says: -- "Shure and be jabbers I'll take a bad cold.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘quizzical’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Q words
Ever get stuck with the random bunch of letters and a q and not know any words? Well, maybe this will help.
quire, quais, quai, queer, quoit, quitrent, quipster, question, quest, questing, quests, quit and 208 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
abusive, adamant, autocratic, bossy, bullheaded, bumptious, certain, cock-a-hoop, cocksure, cocky, commanding, compelling and 189 more...
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henryar's list
marmoleum, menagerie, cyan, ochre, pilfer, discombobulate, loquacious, iridescent, amethyst, derelict, botulism, equilibrium and 240 more...
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Confusually
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baffle, farrago, confound, befuddle, daze, disorient, discombobulate, stupefy, perplex, mystify, bewilder, boggle and 134 more...
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Wordlist_WordOperation_Test
Testing WordOperation Test
test, assay, trial balloon, crucible, double-blind, stanford-binet, chi-square, binet-simon scale, test drive, tau coefficient o..., screen-test, dry run and 56 more...
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Words for Haikus
Getting the Perfect Word for 5-7-5.
inevitable, serendipity, marvellous, expectations, aspirations, peculiar, zephyr, hubris, surreptitious, pennyroyal, quizzical, kaleidoscope and 19 more...
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Good ol' qu-
quag, quagga, quaff, querulous, quorum, sesquipedalian, quibble, quip, aquiline, quote, quotationist, quoter and 29 more...
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Potpourri
eponymous, aa, pulchritude, gizmo, macabre, sui generis, solecism, solipsism, eldritch, samizdat, queue, obsequious and 469 more...
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haguremetaru's Words
floozy, mandalay, mandible, x, don't, will, ridiculous, funily, stuff, junk, doody, manning and 152 more...
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beatricks's Words
tremendous, naiad, thrush, samsara, thronging, nascent, broom, aristeia, streak, susurrant, reverberate, resistentialism and 352 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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vorpal's Words
parabiosis, penumbra, defenestrate, portmanteau, sturm und drang, perspicacious, quixotic, copacetic, obfuscate, inveigle, shadenfreude, cloister and 349 more...
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Wordwild's Delights
Delightful words to read and use
plangent, ribald, titubant, sidereal, pelagic, improvident, dolorous, parlous, baleful, precatory, pied, mephitic and 247 more...
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feeling words
twitterpated, loquacious, ambiguous, pensive, sluggish, anxious, adventurous, curious, abandoned, absent-minded, abrasive, abused and 653 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for quizzical.
uselessness If quizzes are quizzical, then what are tests? Sep 30, 2007
rolig "In Maria, child of her brother's late marriage, he now saw that beauty, or sort of physical genius, without the halting influence that had bound Mrs. Vesey up -- yes, and bound Henry up, from his boyhood, with her -- in a circle of quizzical half-smiles." -- Elizabeth Bowen, "Sunday Afternoon," Ivy Gripped the Steps. May 3, 2007