uncanny
adjective
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Uncanny describes that which unsettles us, such as disquieting observations, or mysterious situations and circumstances. Strip the word of its common negating prefix, though, and you’re left with canny, a word that shares semantic territory with clever and prudent. While canny and uncanny don’t appear to be antonyms, they both come from an early Scottish word canny meaning “free from risk; wise, prudent, cautious.” And in Scottish, canny has for centuries had a secondary meaning that correlates better to its mysterious cousin: the Oxford English Dictionary reports that the word is used in negative constructions to describe what is not safe to be involved with, or more broadly, what is not in accordance with what is right or natural. Rather uncanny.
Synonyms
Examples of uncanny in a Sentence
Bono, Time, 18 Apr. 2005
To an economist, the 1990s bear an uncanny resemblance to two earlier decades: the 1920s in the United States and the 1980s in Japan. In all three decades, technological change produced extraordinary economic growth, leading to talk of a "new era" and triggering a bull market in stocks that terminated in a market collapse—widely regarded as the bursting of a speculative bubble.
—Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, 22 Jan. 2002
As he approached quite close to the enclosure he saw an excited group surrounding the two fugitives, who, trembling with fright and exhaustion, were scarce able to recount the uncanny details of their adventure.
—Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, 1914
She could not teach herself to think favourably of Pansy, whose absence of initiative, of conversation, of personal claims, seemed to her, in a girl of twenty, unnatural and even uncanny.
—Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, 1881
She had an uncanny resemblance to someone I had seen before.
She has an uncanny sense of direction.
an uncanny ability to predict the weather
Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
The video should appear at once utterly convincing, ensuring that the effect of the transition into the live stage scene that follows feels somehow uncanny.
—Ayad Akhtar, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024
Robert Irwin poses alongside his uncanny wax figure during its unveiling at Madame Tussauds Sydney on Nov. 28.
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Holiday Spirit
Josh Brolin appears cheerful during a taping of The Graham Norton Show in London on Nov. 27.
—Escher Walcott, People.com, 2 Dec. 2024
This shoe also has an uncanny ability to mold to your foot, with its flexible and soft microsuede upper.
—The Editors, Outside Online, 1 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near uncanny
Cite this Entry
“Uncanny.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uncanny. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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uncanny
adjective
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