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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Curiosity \Cu'ri*os"i*ty\ (k[=u]'r[i^]*[o^]s"[i^]*t[y^]), noun; pl. {Curiosities} (-t[i^]z). [OE. curiouste, curiosite, OF. curioset['e], curiosit['e], F. curiosit['e], fr. L. curiositas, fr. curiosus. See {Curious}, and cf. {Curio}.]
1. The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration. [Obs.] --Bacon.
When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity. --Shak.
A screen accurately cut in tapiary work . . . with great curiosity. --Evelin.
2. Disposition to inquire, investigate, or seek after knowledge; a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest; inquisitiveness. --Milton.
3. That which is curious, or fitted to excite or reward attention.
We took a ramble together to see the curiosities of this great town. --Addison.
There hath been practiced also a curiosity, to set a tree upon the north side of a wall, and, at a little hieght, to draw it through the wall, etc. --Bacon. ||
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
curiosity
noun
1: a state in which you want to learn more about something [syn: {wonder}]
2: something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting [syn: {curio}, {oddity}, {oddment}, {peculiarity}, {rarity}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
81 Moby Thesaurus words for "curiosity": abnormality, amazement, anomaly, ardor, astonishing thing, astonishment, bauble, bric-a-brac, cathexis, concern, concernment, concupiscence, conversation piece, curio, desideration, desire, drive, eagerness, enthusiasm, exception, fancy, fantasy, freak, gazingstock, gewgaw, hope, horme, improbability, inquisitiveness, intellectual curiosity, interest, interestedness, interference, intrusiveness, libido, lust for learning, marvel, marvelment, matter of interest, meddlesomeness, mind, miracle, monstrosity, museum piece, need, nonesuch, nosiness, objet d'art, oddity, passion, phenomenon, pleasure, pleasure principle, prodigiosity, prodigy, prying, questioning, quite a thing, rarity, regard, sensation, sexual desire, sight, snooping, something else, special interest, spectacle, strange thing, stunner, thirst for knowledge, trinket, urge, want, wanting, will, will and pleasure, wish, wish fulfillment, wonder, wonderful thing, wonderment
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
CURIOSITY, noun An objectionable quality of the female mind. The desire to know whether or not a woman is cursed with curiosity is one of the most active and insatiable passions of the masculine soul.
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