eerie

adjective

ee·​rie ˈir-ē 

variants or less commonly eery

eerier; eeriest

1

: so mysterious, strange, or unexpected as to send a chill up the spine

a coyote's eerie howl

the similarities were eerie

also : seemingly not of earthly origin

the flames cast an eerie glow

2

chiefly Scotland : affected with fright : scared

eeriness

ˈir-ē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• creepy
• haunting
• spookish
• spooky
• uncanny
• unearthly
• weird

Choose the Right Synonym for eerie

weird, eerie, uncanny mean mysteriously strange or fantastic.

weird may imply an unearthly or supernatural strangeness or it may stress peculiarity or oddness.

weird creatures from another world

eerie suggests an uneasy or fearful consciousness that mysterious and malign powers are at work.

an eerie calm preceded the bombing raid

uncanny implies disquieting strangeness or mysteriousness.

an uncanny resemblance between total strangers

Examples of eerie in a Sentence

The flames cast an eerie glow.

a land of eerie beauty

Recent Examples on the Web

Backed by an eerie beat, the track revisits their promiscuous, party lifestyle with hedonistic lyricism. —Cerys Davies, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2025

How eerie/prescient was that measles storyline, seeing as how the penultimate episode was obviously written months before the current outbreak in Texas? —Rebecca Luther, TVLine, 4 Apr. 2025

Related article An eerie spiral lit up the European skies. —Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 4 Apr. 2025

Things get eerie when Ortega’s shown lighting a home on fire and tying the XO frontman up while performing some sort of satanic ritual on him. —Michael Saponara, Billboard, 1 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English (northern dialect) eri

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for eerie

• beery
• bleary
• cheery
• cirri
• dearie
• deary
• dreary
• kiri
• leary
• leery
• peery
• query

Kids Definition

eerie

adjective

ee·​rie

variants also eery

ˈi(ə)r-ē 

eerier; eeriest

: causing fear or uneasiness because of strangeness or gloominess

an eerie shadow

eerily

ˈir-ə-lē 

adverb

eeriness

ˈir-ē-nəs 

noun