curiosity

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Eagerness to learn

Nouns

1. curiosity, curiousness; interest, thirst for knowledge; inquiring mind; inquisitiveness; meddling, nosiness; sightseeing; voyeurism; morbid curiosity, prurience. See information.

2. sightseer; questioner (see inquiry); gossip, busybody, quidnunc; peeping Tom, voyeur, Paul Pry; eavesdropper; bush telegraph. Informal, snooper, nosy Parker. Slang, rubberneck, keek.

Verbs — be curious, take an interest in; stare, prick up the ears; sightsee, see sights; pry, peep, eavesdrop; gossip; meddle. Informal, snoop. Slang, rubberneck, dish the dirt, bug, stick one's nose into.

Adjectives — curious, inquisitiveness, burning with curiosity, overcurious, curious as a cat; inquiring (see inquiry); prying, nosy, prurient, voyeuristic; meddlesome; inquisitorial.

Phrases — curiosity killed the cat.

Quotations — Curiosity is the thirst of the soul (Samuel Johnson), The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what's worth knowing (Oscar Wilde).

Antonyms, see indifference.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [DeSire to know]

Syn. interest, concern, regard, inquiring mind, inquiringness, inquisitiveness, mental acquisitiveness, thirst for knowledge, a questing mind, questioning, searching, eagerness to find out, disposition to inquire, inclination to ask questions, interest in learning, scientific interest, healthy curiosity.

2. [A tendency to snoop]

Syn. meddlesomeness, intrusiveness, officiousness, meddling, prying, voyeurism, nosiness*, snoopiness*.

3. [An unusual object]

Syn. exoticism, rarity, oddity, marvel; see wonder 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. inquisitiveness interest, concern, *nosiness, questioning, prying, *thirst for knowledge. ''To eat of the forbidden fruit.''—Robert Burton. ''The lust of the mind.''—Thomas Hobbes. ''The mother of science.''—Charles Singer. ''A peep-hole in the brain.''—Elbert Hubbard.

2. curio novelty, oddity, rarity, conversation piece, objet d'art, bibelot, wonder, marvel.

ANT.: indifference, apathy

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. Mental acquisitiveness: curiousness, inquisitiveness, interest. Idiom: thirst for knowledge. See INVESTIGATE. 2. Undue interest in the affairs of others: curiousness, inquisitiveness. Informal: nosiness, snoopiness. See INVESTIGATE.