quirk
Americannoun
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a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism.
He is full of strange quirks.
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a shift, subterfuge, or evasion; quibble.
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a sudden twist or turn.
He lost his money by a quirk of fate.
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a flourish or showy stroke, as in writing.
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Architecture.
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an acute angle or channel, as one dividing two parts of a molding or one dividing a flush bead from the adjoining surfaces.
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an area taken from a larger area, as a room or a plot of ground.
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an enclosure for this area.
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Obsolete. a clever or witty remark; quip.
adjective
noun
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an individual peculiarity of character; mannerism or foible
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an unexpected twist or turn
a quirk of fate
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a continuous groove in an architectural moulding
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a flourish, as in handwriting
Related Words
See eccentricity.
Other Word Forms
- quirkily adverb
- quirkiness noun
- quirky adjective
Etymology
Origin of quirk
First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Chalke: One of the coolest things that helped with the show was Bill would just write to everybody’s strengths or write to their quirks or write to their personalities and weave it in.
From Los Angeles Times
Due to a quirk in an irrevocable trust, it’s all or nothing for him.
In a quirk, U.S. exports of gold more than doubled last year to $84 billion.
From MarketWatch
He is able to laugh at the quirks of his condition with them.
From BBC
Analysts cautioned that January's job gains - nearly double what many had predicted - might look more robust than the reality due to quirks in the data.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
